TLG
02-05-2016, 02:55 AM
The Origin Of Blue Eyes
Have you ever stopped to consider your origins? On a day-to-day basis, you probably don't feel that special, but the fact is that you are the result of hundreds of generations of couplings over the course of millions of years. Some of us knew our great-grandparents, and maybe you even knew your great-great-grandparents, but what about beyond that?
These are the kinds of questions that anthropologists and other scientists try to answer on a daily basis. What were our great-great-great-great-great-grandparents like? What did they eat? How did they live? What did they look like? Even though mankind has only been on this planet for only a small fraction of its existence, that fraction still accounts for thousands of years of evolution and civilization.
One of the questions that scientists wondered about had to do with eye color. Blue eyes are somewhat of a scientific anomaly, and they wanted to see if they could unlock the mystery of the origins of this unique trait.
To find out about the origins of blue eyes, scientists went way, way back by about 128 generations
25165
Going back that far can get pretty complicated, but scientists think they've found where and when this trait originated.
25166
They believe that every pair of baby blues in the world today is descended from a single individual, living in Europe about 6,000-10,000 years ago.
25167
Up until then, it's believed that all humans had brown eyes, but the emergence of a gene known as OCA2 began causing changes in the amount of pigment the body produced.
25168
This mutation led to different shades of brown and, eventually, to different colors altogether.
25169
Part 2 coming up
Have you ever stopped to consider your origins? On a day-to-day basis, you probably don't feel that special, but the fact is that you are the result of hundreds of generations of couplings over the course of millions of years. Some of us knew our great-grandparents, and maybe you even knew your great-great-grandparents, but what about beyond that?
These are the kinds of questions that anthropologists and other scientists try to answer on a daily basis. What were our great-great-great-great-great-grandparents like? What did they eat? How did they live? What did they look like? Even though mankind has only been on this planet for only a small fraction of its existence, that fraction still accounts for thousands of years of evolution and civilization.
One of the questions that scientists wondered about had to do with eye color. Blue eyes are somewhat of a scientific anomaly, and they wanted to see if they could unlock the mystery of the origins of this unique trait.
To find out about the origins of blue eyes, scientists went way, way back by about 128 generations
25165
Going back that far can get pretty complicated, but scientists think they've found where and when this trait originated.
25166
They believe that every pair of baby blues in the world today is descended from a single individual, living in Europe about 6,000-10,000 years ago.
25167
Up until then, it's believed that all humans had brown eyes, but the emergence of a gene known as OCA2 began causing changes in the amount of pigment the body produced.
25168
This mutation led to different shades of brown and, eventually, to different colors altogether.
25169
Part 2 coming up