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Author Topic:   Caucasions are the Defectives
NosyNed
Member
Posts: 8996
From: Canada
Joined: 04-04-2003


Message 1 of 12 (270200)
12-16-2005 9:35 PM


The Golden Gene
Since, as we have been told so very often, there are no beneficial mutations all I can conclude from this is that us white folks are the genetic defectives. I guess we are lucky that there is none of the evolution stuff either or we'd be selected out.
The pale skin some of us defectives have (making us more susceptable to skin cancer seems to be a result of a mutation. In a gene which we share with Zebrafish.
In "In the News" or "human origins"

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AdminJar
Inactive Member


Message 2 of 12 (270204)
12-16-2005 9:45 PM


Thread moved here from the Proposed New Topics forum.

  
jar
Member (Idle past 393 days)
Posts: 34026
From: Texas!!
Joined: 04-20-2004


Message 3 of 12 (270211)
12-16-2005 10:03 PM
Reply to: Message 1 by NosyNed
12-16-2005 9:35 PM


It's amazing how much we can learn from our cousins the fish. Earlier this year a group from Stanford found that it was a single gene that turned on the change for determining whether a Stikkleback is covered by armour plate or not.
fish gene DNA controls armor on species

Aslan is not a Tame Lion

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Nighttrain
Member (Idle past 3993 days)
Posts: 1512
From: brisbane,australia
Joined: 06-08-2004


Message 4 of 12 (270226)
12-16-2005 11:06 PM
Reply to: Message 1 by NosyNed
12-16-2005 9:35 PM


Skin colour
Scientists have long theorized that the lack of sunlight in northern latitudes exerted strong pressures for the natural selection of certain genetic traits. In Africa, dark skin likely protected people from the harmful ultraviolet light effects of a tropical climate, Dr. Parra said.
And yet in inorganic objects, e.g. solar panels, we find a dark surface increases UV absorbtion, while a light surface reflects UV (the albedo effect).

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pink sasquatch
Member (Idle past 6022 days)
Posts: 1567
Joined: 06-10-2004


Message 5 of 12 (270312)
12-17-2005 11:20 AM
Reply to: Message 1 by NosyNed
12-16-2005 9:35 PM


just to clarify...
The pale skin some of us defectives have (making us more susceptable to skin cancer seems to be a result of a mutation.
I'm assuming you're being facetious, though I worry others reading the thread won't quite get it - so I'll throw in a quote from your reference describing the benefits of (the mutation and) pale skin:
Parra writes:
But in Europe, darker complexions interfered with the body's ability to absorb enough ultraviolet light to synthesize vitamin D, important for bone growth. This means people with paler skin would have a survival advantage, he explained.

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JustinC
Member (Idle past 4843 days)
Posts: 624
From: Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Joined: 07-21-2003


Message 6 of 12 (270317)
12-17-2005 11:48 AM
Reply to: Message 4 by Nighttrain
12-16-2005 11:06 PM


Re: Skin colour
quote:
And yet in inorganic objects, e.g. solar panels, we find a dark surface increases UV absorbtion, while a light surface reflects UV (the albedo effect).
It may not be best to think that the adaptation was "white skin;" the adaptation was decreasing the concentration of melanin in the epidermis.
The melanin absorbs the UV radiation before it can reach other cells (keratinocytes?) that synthesize vitamin D. In an environment with a high sunlight intensity, enough UV gets through to the cells to synthesize vitamin D. In an environment with a low intensity of sunlight, not enough UV gets to the keratinocytes to produce a sufficient amount of vitamin D. So melanin production was selected against (hence lighter skin) to varying degrees, depending on latitude.

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coffee_addict
Member (Idle past 476 days)
Posts: 3645
From: Indianapolis, IN
Joined: 03-29-2004


Message 7 of 12 (270352)
12-17-2005 2:34 PM
Reply to: Message 1 by NosyNed
12-16-2005 9:35 PM


I have been calling you guys the pigmentally challenged for years now but none of you seem to have taken offense.

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Nighttrain
Member (Idle past 3993 days)
Posts: 1512
From: brisbane,australia
Joined: 06-08-2004


Message 8 of 12 (270450)
12-18-2005 5:25 AM
Reply to: Message 7 by coffee_addict
12-17-2005 2:34 PM


Pigmentation
Give me time, I`m working on it.

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Omnivorous
Member
Posts: 3977
From: Adirondackia
Joined: 07-21-2005
Member Rating: 7.3


Message 9 of 12 (270474)
12-18-2005 10:11 AM
Reply to: Message 7 by coffee_addict
12-17-2005 2:34 PM


Rainbows
I like to think of myself as pigmentally flexible.
In accordance with some Welsh and German ancestors, during the winter months I appear pale and freckled; drawing on the genes the Moors brought to Sicily, and through other ancestors to me, if I spend much of the summer outdoors, I turn nut-brown...very nut-brown. I'm not sure what impact the smattering of Jewish ancestors had.
I enjoy chamleon powers compared to all you pigmentally fixed folk.
The multiracial shall inherit the earth.

Save lives! Click here!
Join the World Community Grid with Team EvC!

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Speel-yi
Inactive Member


Message 10 of 12 (285108)
02-08-2006 11:42 PM
Reply to: Message 1 by NosyNed
12-16-2005 9:35 PM


Vitamin D is possibly one of the most under-rated nutrients humans need. An inadequate supply will predispose someone to a variety of diseases. Being able to synthesize enough will have an effect on the ability to survive. Lighter complexion is a way of producing more Vitamin D at higher latitudes.
A fair complexion has no effect on skin cancer, this is in fact one of the biggest red herrings of modern medicine. Malignant melanoma is a genetic defect passed on through families. The appearence of skin cancer at any rate occurs too late in a life history to have any effect on evolution.
The driving force for selection of darker skin is the protection of folate against the suns rays, the ability to preserve folate has an imediate effect on reproduction since folate protects against neural tube defects in fetuses. Hence selection for dark complection will occur in a few generations of a population.

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AlgolagniaVolcae
Inactive Member


Message 11 of 12 (293264)
03-08-2006 11:19 AM


In the Discovery Channel special entitled "Kapow! Super Hero Science" researchers said they had discovered a gene which turns skin pigment and hair green(they were showcasing science which might create a real Hulk).
If memory serves they stated in as little as twenty years it will be possible to actually initiate this pigment change in a human. Maybe by then they will have added more colors to the spectrum, I have personally always wanted blue skin.

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ramoss
Member (Idle past 611 days)
Posts: 3228
Joined: 08-11-2004


Message 12 of 12 (293284)
03-08-2006 12:29 PM
Reply to: Message 11 by AlgolagniaVolcae
03-08-2006 11:19 AM


They have actually inserted this gene into mice. The coloration makes them able to track cancers and thinks like that much more easily.

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