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Why are Europeans White?

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Re: Why are Europeans White?

#11

Post by comex »

dmoy wrote: post #9
trafficlight wrote: post #2

Good thing you can't actually click on the images to make them larger. I didn't really want to look at those maps anyway.

That's odd, I can rightclick-> open image or zoom just fine. Is something wrong with your (or my!) browser?

That works because the images are being downscaled by the browser, but since the norm is click to expand, because (among other things) asking the browser to download a large image just to downscale it is a waste of bandwidth if the user isn't going to view the large version, the OP didn't attempt to find a larger image that way.

Re: Why are Europeans White?

#14

Post by jpxxx »

Nitpick: That heat ferried by the gulf stream is what warns the Baltic is a quasi-religious supposition from the father of oceanography. The thermal ballast of the Atlantic ocean that develops in the summer is primarily responsible for most of Europe's uncommonly warm winters.

Re: Why are Europeans White?

#15

Post by raverbashing »

Nitramp wrote: post #6
berntb wrote: post #3

Uh, light skin, blue eyes and blonde hair is just 6000 year old?! Sounds really weird to get so common so quickly. This should already be well known, by the mutation speed of the relevant genes? What about an alternative hypothesis, like sexual evolution? Edit: From the wikipedia page, this theory seems to be quite recent. Interesting. (Sigh, I liked the idea of blonde neanderthals. :-) ) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki…

I'd assume that evolution happens quite fast if the trait is already there in the population (people are more or less light-skinned everywhere) and there is such a strong selection pressure (much more food available if you can adapt to the lack vitamin D).

Exactly, it's not evolving lighter skin

It's evolving keeping the light skin by neoteny

Re: Why are Europeans White?

#16

Post by molmalo »

exit wrote: post #8

i wonder whether depigmentation happened fast enough for people to be cognissant of the advantages. well into the processes, would people know that dark skinned atavisms would have nutritional problems?

I think that the most visible advantage/disadvantage of having different skin colors, are the frequency and severity of sunburns. Black people are more resistant to sunburns than white people. And given that they would need to move hundreds or thousands of kilometers, to be exposed to lower latitudes and heavier solar radiation, and that it was a loooong trip in those prehistoric times, maybe they didn't get to see the advantages/disadvantages.

But then again... who knows?!

Re: Why are Europeans White?

#17

Post by thaumasiotes »

berntb wrote: post #3

Uh, light skin, blue eyes and blonde hair is just 6000 year old?! Sounds really weird to get so common so quickly. This should already be well known, by the mutation speed of the relevant genes? What about an alternative hypothesis, like sexual evolution? Edit: From the wikipedia page, this theory seems to be quite recent. Interesting. (Sigh, I liked the idea of blonde neanderthals. :-) ) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki…

Peter Frost has been writing about this for years. He comes down on the side of the sexual selection theory, so if you're interested in that, check him out.

http://evoandproud.blogspot.com/2009/07/why-are-europeans-wh...

http://evoandproud.blogspot.com/2010/04/puzzle-of-european-h...

Re: Why are Europeans White?

#18

Post by vacri »

jpxxx wrote: post #14

Nitpick: That heat ferried by the gulf stream is what warns the Baltic is a quasi-religious supposition from the father of oceanography. The thermal ballast of the Atlantic ocean that develops in the summer is primarily responsible for most of Europe's uncommonly warm winters.

The Baltic isn't all that warm either - half of it freezes over in winter.

Re: Why are Europeans White?

#19

Post by vacri »

dmoy wrote: post #9
trafficlight wrote: post #2

Good thing you can't actually click on the images to make them larger. I didn't really want to look at those maps anyway.

That's odd, I can rightclick-> open image or zoom just fine. Is something wrong with your (or my!) browser?

Even then, they're not a great size for examination. The whole format of the page looks like it was made by Crackpots-R-Us, which doesn't contribute well to his argument.

Re: Why are Europeans White?

#20

Post by [deleted] »

vacri wrote: post #18
jpxxx wrote: post #14

Nitpick: That heat ferried by the gulf stream is what warns the Baltic is a quasi-religious supposition from the father of oceanography. The thermal ballast of the Atlantic ocean that develops in the summer is primarily responsible for most of Europe's uncommonly warm winters.

The Baltic isn't all that warm either - half of it freezes over in winter.

[deleted]
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