Sterling Ambivalence (sterlingnorth) wrote,
Sterling Ambivalence
sterlingnorth

The birth of white people...

Scientists Find DNA Change That Explains White Skin

By Rick Weiss
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, December 16, 2005; Page A01

Scientists said yesterday that they have discovered a tiny genetic mutation that largely explains the first appearance of white skin in humans tens of thousands of years ago, a finding that helps solve one of biology's most enduring mysteries and illuminates one of humanity's greatest sources of strife.

The work suggests that the skin-whitening mutation occurred by chance in a single individual after the first human exodus from Africa, when all people were brown-skinned. That person's offspring apparently thrived as humans moved northward into what is now Europe, helping to give rise to the lightest of the world's races.


...and from a mutation on a single gene, is launched an entire industry whose goal is to return that skin to the color of toast.
Tags: race
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