Why was the color blue chosen by evolution?
According to the article, the evolutionary choice at work here was isolation-induced. It was each blue family member choosing to reproduce with another blue individual that propagated the recessive gene.
The Fugate family of Kentucky has had blue skin for centuries
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Re: The Fugate family of Kentucky has had blue skin for centuries
#22> The Fugates he treated ingested this dye and within a few minutes, the blue coloration of their skin disappeared, and their skin turned pink. Really? Within a few minutes?? Nitpick aside, such an interesting article! The world is such a big and interesting place!
More amazing (to me) was that a doctor actually solved this problem effectively. A few times that I went to doctors with minor problems in the last decade, they usually had no clue what's wrong (they even admitted it), but prescribed antibiotics.
I imagine the biggest challenge your doctors faced was diagnosis.
It's a lot easier to treat someone when you can diagnose them at a glance.
Re: The Fugate family of Kentucky has had blue skin for centuries
#23Some real gems in this article- “I’m kin to myself” and “she was as blue a woman as I ever saw” (how many blue people have you seen?)
If you’ve seen a lot of people who are hypothermic or recently dead of same, then haven’t you seen a lot of blue people?
Re: The Fugate family of Kentucky has had blue skin for centuries
#24Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's not how evolution works... random variation, sometimes detrimental, will sometimes lead to advantage
Sometimes both. Sickle cell anemia gives you slightly better odds of surviving malaria for instance.
It's not anemia that gives you advantage, but the gene that gives you anemia. People who carry one copy of the gene (who are heterozygous), don't have anemia but have the advantage, while people who carry two copies (are homozygous) are at a huge disadvantage due to anemia. This is a classic example of heterozygosity advantage.
Re: The Fugate family of Kentucky has had blue skin for centuries
#25My mom developed blue skin in reaction to a medication she was taking.
The doctor was so interested in her body's response he brought her in front of this university medical class. Apparently it's quite rare. It went away a week or so later.
(cant remember the name of the medication but it was certainly not a listed side effect).
Re: The Fugate family of Kentucky has had blue skin for centuries
#26Why was the color blue chosen by evolution?
This is a joke right? Evolution doesn't choose anything. In this case, the family had a hemoglobin variation, that resulted in a different kind of non-functional hemoglobin being produced. This hemoglobin has a blue tint. This, combined with their pale coloration, meant they had a blue tint. This is not too dissimilar to how other hemoglobinopathies come about in nature. For example, the thallassemias and sickle cell…
>This is a joke right?
That's a really insulting way to answer a question.
Re: The Fugate family of Kentucky has had blue skin for centuries
#27My mom developed blue skin in reaction to a medication she was taking. The doctor was so interested in her body's response he brought her in front of this university medical class. Apparently it's quite rare. It went away a week or so later. (cant remember the name of the medication but it was certainly not a listed side effect).
I think there was an article last week the mentioned a rare side effect of benzocaine turning blood blue. Found it: https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/common-numbing-me...
Re: The Fugate family of Kentucky has had blue skin for centuries
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is a joke right? Evolution doesn't choose anything. In this case, the family had a hemoglobin variation, that resulted in a different kind of non-functional hemoglobin being produced. This hemoglobin has a blue tint. This, combined with their pale coloration, meant they had a blue tint. This is not too dissimilar to how other hemoglobinopathies come about in nature. For example, the thallassemias and sickle cell…
>This is a joke right? That's a really insulting way to answer a question.
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Re: The Fugate family of Kentucky has had blue skin for centuries
#29A fascinating article, but it's a bit frustrating that there are no colour photos. I tried searching the internet and found photos of other blue-skinned people but none of them had this genetic cause (mostly it was silver "supplements").
https://historycollection.co/the-fugate-family-of-kentucky-h...
Don't visit that site if you value your scrollbar or browser history...
Re: The Fugate family of Kentucky has had blue skin for centuries
#30A fascinating article, but it's a bit frustrating that there are no colour photos. I tried searching the internet and found photos of other blue-skinned people but none of them had this genetic cause (mostly it was silver "supplements").
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