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Stoic Redheads ("redheads can withstand up to 25% more pain than their blond and brunet peers do")
The New York Times Magazine ^ | 12/11/05 | Amy Sullivan

Posted on 12/11/2005 2:03:17 PM PST by paulat

Stoic Redheads

By AMY SULLIVAN Published: December 11, 2005

Redheads have long been portrayed in literature and art as strong-willed and fiery. Now there may be a scientific explanation for these traits. The key, according to researchers at McGill University in Montreal, is a gene that is linked both to red hair coloring and to higher levels of pain tolerance. It has been known since the mid-1990's that mutations of the MC1R gene are responsible for hair color - and fair skin and freckles - in about 70 percent of redheads. But when Jeffrey S. Mogil and his colleagues at McGill set out to find a genetic link to pain inhibition, MC1R wasn't at the top of their list of targets. "We normally only get excited about genes in the brain when it comes to pain," he says. "This is in the skin." There was, however, a little-noticed paper that said MC1R was in fact expressed in the brain. It was enough of a clue to go on.

So, earlier this year, Mogil ran some mice through a battery of pain tests, using mice with the red-hair gene as his test group. (A collaborator in the Netherlands ran the same study with humans, giving them electrical shocks to the leg.) When animals and humans experience pain, their brains release natural opiates similar to morphine. In most cases, however, the MC1R gene produces a protein that interferes with the efficacy of those substances as well as of artificial painkillers. What Mogil found is that the variant of MC1R that causes red hair also appears to allow these opiates to work unimpeded. As a result, redheads can withstand up to 25 percent more pain than their blond and brunet peers do before saying "stop."

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: freckles; gingergene; gingers; godsgravesglyphs; helixmakemineadouble; redhair; redheads
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To: TASMANIANRED

Anyone married to a redhead can appreciate your screen name :0)


61 posted on 12/11/2005 3:08:56 PM PST by digger48
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To: Victoria Delsoul
LOL!

Is that from yesterday, or today?

62 posted on 12/11/2005 3:09:46 PM PST by Alberta's Child (What it all boils down to is that no one's really got it figured out just yet.)
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To: FEARED MUTATION

Red hair is a remnant trait of Neanderthals.


63 posted on 12/11/2005 3:10:15 PM PST by PeoplesRepublicOfWashington (How long do we have to pretend that the vast majority of Democrats are patriots?)
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To: paulat
Seems to be in direct opposition to this older post:

(Redheads)That Flaming Hair Could Mean Flaming Pain - Study

64 posted on 12/11/2005 3:11:50 PM PST by sweetliberty (Stupidity should make you sterile.)
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To: CindyDawg
Well, I used prefer dark hair too. My husband's was black. Now it's grey. I used to tactfully set out Grecian formula but he ignored it. I like grey (on him, not me) now.

The salt and peppered look (on a once fully dark haired man) is sexy.

65 posted on 12/11/2005 3:13:19 PM PST by MotleyGirl70
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To: Alberta's Child

From last night.


66 posted on 12/11/2005 3:14:17 PM PST by Victoria Delsoul
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To: sweetliberty
Seems to be in direct opposition to this older post

This is just like all those "coffee is good for you/coffee is bad for you, eggs are good for you/eggs are bad for you" studies. I would tend to believe the previous study, however. I am a blonde who sunburns in the shade in CA and AZ. I also need a TON of novocaine!

67 posted on 12/11/2005 3:16:13 PM PST by paulat
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To: jla

Vikings then?


68 posted on 12/11/2005 3:17:11 PM PST by FEARED MUTATION
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To: ChadGore
I find your lack of pictures disturbing
69 posted on 12/11/2005 3:20:20 PM PST by Charlespg (Civilization and freedom are only worthy of those who defend or support defending It)
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To: sweetliberty; ValerieUSA
Lets call in an expert. What say you, Valerie? I personally vouch for your niceties!
70 posted on 12/11/2005 3:21:20 PM PST by operation clinton cleanup (Johnson & Johnson = Bengals win!)
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To: jla
I always get a kick out of non-redheads discussing us redheads!

We are like everyone else--we run the gamut from inteligence to stupidity, from firey to very dull, from slim to fat--an on and on. Every freeper who know me, of course, thinks I'm wonderful--never get upset, steady as she goes, has to think about things before I open my mouth--etc. In a word, just about perfect--LOL!

I also sell swamp land in Florida, if anyone is interested.

Oh--just so you will know and never make THAT mistake again, carrot tops are green.

Here's one more thing y'all might not know--but I know it's true because my daddy told me when I was a little girl:

Once upon a time, everyone was covered in freckles--and every time someone told a lie, one of their freckles would fly away.

71 posted on 12/11/2005 3:22:32 PM PST by basil (Exercise your Second Amendment--buy another gun today!)
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To: feinswinesuksass

Hey, babe, aren't you a redhead?


72 posted on 12/11/2005 3:23:57 PM PST by ovrtaxt (The FAIRTAX. A powerplay for We The People.)
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To: Victoria Delsoul

You're such a party animal. LOL.


73 posted on 12/11/2005 3:24:45 PM PST by Alberta's Child (What it all boils down to is that no one's really got it figured out just yet.)
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To: paulat

BTT


74 posted on 12/11/2005 3:26:02 PM PST by RedEyeJack
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To: FEARED MUTATION
Vikings then?

Well, they are the ones responsible for producing the redheaded Irish and Scots you see today.

75 posted on 12/11/2005 3:26:09 PM PST by jla
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To: MotleyGirl70
Ninety percent of the redheaded women I've ever know are evil.

Reminds me of a lady I worked with, who'd say, "I'd rather be dead than have a red head"...

76 posted on 12/11/2005 3:26:38 PM PST by ErnBatavia (403-3)
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To: jla

Interesting.


77 posted on 12/11/2005 3:27:17 PM PST by FEARED MUTATION
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To: Alberta's Child

On the contrary – I don't drink much and more than 2-3 glasses of wine means trouble.


78 posted on 12/11/2005 3:28:28 PM PST by Victoria Delsoul
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To: paulat

79 posted on 12/11/2005 3:33:03 PM PST by mc6809e
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To: FEARED MUTATION
The redheaded Norsemen often raped the women in the countries they invaded, and then some took the women as their wives. Over time a number of Norsemen settled down in those countries, becoming part of the local gentry, the others took their wives with them back to Scandinavia .
80 posted on 12/11/2005 3:34:53 PM PST by jla
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