Red Alert

I came across this article in the new National Geographic magazine. It hit a little too close to home.

"This year, news reports buzzed that true redheads will be extinct by 2100, since carriers of the carrot-top gene are less and less likely to pair up in an age of global intermingling (a child usually needs a copy from each parent to get the red result). But while redheads may decline, the potential for red isn't going away. When a mutation created the special gene in northern Europe millennia ago, its effect on hair and skin pigments - causing red to build up instead of brown - was beneficial, upping the body's ability to make vitamin D from sunlight. Today, the gene's carriers are often prone to skin cancer and, oddly some are more sensitive to heat- and cold-related pain."

What are we going to do? I can't believe this! Extinct!

Comments

[Tom]

Its time to toast the bagels - let me get the fire extinguisher just in case

[yo yo yo]

I prefer to call myself Strawberry Blonde

My favorite RED HEAD story: My family made their annual pilgramage to the Scotish games; you know bagpipe marching bands, caber toss, lots of plaid, etc... And I took my then boyfriend (now husband and I might add, of Irish descent) to the games. I was sitting in the bleachers watching the pipers and feeling particularly moved by the selection of "When the Saints Come Marching In." I looked over at my boyfriend to see if he was equally moved and he said, "If I see one more pastey-white, freckle-faced, red-head...I'm gonna lose it! And they're all getting sunburned!"