Ahem…

[quote author=“BBC News (2002)”]Blondes ‘to die out in 200 years’

The last natural blondes will die out within 200 years, scientists believe.

A study by experts in Germany suggests people with blonde hair are an endangered species and will become extinct by 2202. Researchers predict the last truly natural blonde will be born in Finland - the country with the highest proportion of blondes. But they say too few people now carry the gene for blondes to last beyond the next two centuries.

The problem is that blonde hair is caused by a recessive gene.

In order for a child to have blonde hair, it must have the gene on both sides of the family in the grandparents’ generation.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/2284783.stm

...and…

[quote author=“Wikipedia”]Disappearing blonde gene

Disappearing blonde gene was a hoax that started circulating in the media in 2002. According to this hoax, the World Health Organization, or other experts, published a report that people with blond hair “will become extinct by 2202”.

The hoax has two parts. First, neither WHO nor any reputable expert has issued such a report.

The second part of the hoax is the claim that blonde populations would eventually disappear. This is based on a misunderstanding of recessive genes. To show (or “express”) the effect of a recessive gene, such as the phenotype for blondeness, a person must inherit the gene from both parents. A recessive gene inherited from only one parent is masked by a dominant gene, and not expressed. However, a recessive gene may be passed on to children. A child may be blonde even if both parents are non-blonde, so long as both parents pass on the recessive blonde gene. Unless a gene is associated with a disadvantage to survival or reproduction, it will continue to be passed on to future generations and occasionally expressed. In fact, under assumptions of the Hardy-Weinberg principle, the concentration of the gene in the population will remain constant.

A number of news agencies, such as Canadian Press and BBC News took the bait. In 2002 the BBC News (and others) reported that unnamed German scientists had concluded that the natural distribution of fair hair would cease within the span of 200 years due to the genes associated with fair hair being recessive.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearing_blonde_gene

Also, Snopes traces this urban legend back well over a century.

Nice find David!

I have a friend who is a redhead, and neither of his parents or grandparents were. Only one of his great grandparents had red hair, and it was hardly bright red.

Does this mean the gene isn’t as recessive as they’d like us to think? probably.

Transfrmr - 23 August 2007 12:12 PM

I have a friend who is a redhead, and neither of his parents or grandparents were. Only one of his great grandparents had red hair, and it was hardly bright red.

Does this mean the gene isn’t as recessive as they’d like us to think? probably.

Nope, just the opposite. If a characteristic is controlled by a single, dominant gene then everyone with the gene has the characteristic. If it’s recessive, then only people who inherit a copy from both parents will display the characteristic. E.g. if ‘h’ is the recessive red-haired gene, and ‘H’ is a dominant gene for another hair colour, only ‘hh’ individuals will be red-haired. Hence your friend’s genetic history might look like this (the gene from an individual that goes into their offspring is underlined in each case)...

[IMG]http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s308/CrustyBear/Redhair.jpg[/IMG]

Of course, nothing in RL is ever quite that clear cut. There are in fact several ‘red hair’ alleles and certain combinations of these genes produce red hair.

I.e. Imagine there were 5 ‘redhair’ genes (A, B, C, D and E) and a pool of non-redhair genes (we’ll collectively call X) then: -

AA, BB, CC, DD and EE people would exhibit red hair.
AB, AC and AE people are reddish-blonde.
BD people are red-haired, BE people are strawberry-blond.
DE people are red-haired.

In addition: -

AX and DX people are occasionally red-haired.
BX, CX and EX people are never red-haired.

This is only an example, by the way. I don’t remember the exact ‘ginger genetics’ and can’t be bothered to look it up (having just burned up my lunchbreak drawing the above diagram).

Tah - 23 August 2007 02:51 AM

Don’t let oppiejoe see this story!

Peter - 23 August 2007 02:57 AM

Tah - 23 August 2007 02:51 AM

Don’t let oppiejoe see this story!

Is oppiejoe going to be extinct in 100 years?

Tah - 23 August 2007 03:00 AM

Well, probably.  But he has a thing for redheads.  We don’t want him depressed before he becomes extinct.

Tah - 23 August 2007 03:31 AM

Transfrmr - 23 August 2007 03:03 AM

So Opiejoe is going to live over 100 years? Dang, I need more tye dye clothing!

No.  If redheads are extinct in 100 years oppiejoe won’t last long.

Personally I’m having a hard time buying this story.  If they want to say there won’t be any more viable genes for breeding redheads I might buy it.  But I’d want to see a little more than a mere news article explaining it.

((SNIP))

*weeps inconsolably*

yeah… I would be 143 in 100 years… I’ll be extinct then too… 

Thanks for thinking of my wardrobe Trans
Gotta keep my nasty old butt crack covered ‘eh?

I saw this story in the news yesterday and had the same reaction Tah… not very likely that they will disappear. But I did have a short bout of hyperventilating to overcome first…

Well, just in case. . .

*gets out the Clone-A-Smerk kit*

It’s for the benefit of future generations.

hulitoons - 23 August 2007 10:34 AM

As you’ve pointed out Tah, hair dye (or some other technological way to bend hair/skin etc. color) is most likely ALWAYS going to be around.  Many redheads today (and those who will be one tomorrow) weren’t genetically engineered that way!!!

*looks innocent*

This is ludicrous. There’s hundreds of the buggers in Scotland

Just as many as there always have been, and I’m betting most people have a recessive redhead gene

Man, this reminds me that I need to bang a few more redheads as quickly as possible!

Any takers?

It’s a charming offer, but I think Matt might object.

True, true.

I’ll stick to single women.

Thanks David! I know I’ve seen that before, but I wasn’t able to remember very well

*looks at his hair*

Yep, bit o’ red still there..