Why are Europeans White?
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Why are Europeans White?
1–10 of 109 posts
Re: Why are Europeans White?
#2Good thing you can't actually click on the images to make them larger. I didn't really want to look at those maps anyway.
Re: Why are Europeans White?
#3Uh, 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/Human_skin_color#Evolution_of_s...
"This theory is supported by a study into the SLC24A5 gene which found that the allelle associated with light skin in Europe may have originated as recently as 6,000–10,000 years ago[23] which is in line with the earliest evidence of farming.[47]"
Re: Why are Europeans White?
#4Good thing you can't actually click on the images to make them larger. I didn't really want to look at those maps anyway.
Agreed, though they are decent res if you use the browser to do some manual zooming.
Re: Why are Europeans White?
#5The UV map doesn't match the color skin distribution that well (there is a distribution map at the end). Natives all over America had reddish-brown skin instead of black, despite receiving similar amounts of UV to Africa. Maybe related to dense forests vs desert/savana?
Re: Why are Europeans White?
#6Uh, 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).
Re: Why are Europeans White?
#7The UV map doesn't match the color skin distribution that well (there is a distribution map at the end). Natives all over America had reddish-brown skin instead of black, despite receiving similar amounts of UV to Africa. Maybe related to dense forests vs desert/savana?
Well, American natives are supposedly Russian in origin (?), and if they came from a group that had developed the paleness trait, it's feasible that in re-developing darker skin their bodies wouldn't come up with the exact same solution as the original Africans.
Re: Why are Europeans White?
#8i 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?
Re: Why are Europeans White?
#9Good 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?
Re: Why are Europeans White?
#10The UV map doesn't match the color skin distribution that well (there is a distribution map at the end). Natives all over America had reddish-brown skin instead of black, despite receiving similar amounts of UV to Africa. Maybe related to dense forests vs desert/savana?
I would guess it has more to do with time. People only reached the Americas relatively recently[1], from high latitude regions.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Settlement_of_the_Americas