The first Britons were black, DNA study reveals

[Mister D]

man, did this get bizarre

[MisterVeritis]

man, did this get bizarre

Who do you think caused it?

[Mister D]

Glad I left when I did last night.

[Ethereal]

Some people think that genetics work differently for people than for animals. Not.

Chris made a factual statement.

Humans may breed with one another, but they are not bred in the way dogs are.

Human reproduction is largely spontaneous and unplanned, whereas dog breeding is often highly regimented and organized.

The distinction that Chris was making should have been fairly obvious.

[Chris]

Even under the rubric of social selection, selection for qualities or values a society/culture holds in esteem, the selection is hardly conscious and no one sat down and say we value this or that.

[MisterVeritis]

What they produce is unimportant. They create animals that reproduce the same recessives fairly consistently. The laws of genetics are the same for people as for animals.

Are you familiar with the white and dark moths? Prior to coal mining all the moths were white with the occasional dark moth. Then coal mining and coal soot turned the trees dark. In just a few years the white moths had largely disappeared leaving only dark moths.

[MisterVeritis]

Even under the rubric of social selection, selection for qualities or values a society/culture holds in esteem, the selection is hardly conscious and no one sat down and say we value this or that.

However, if a lighter skin led to better health outcomes than those with light skins would rapidly outbreed those with dark skins.

[Chris]

However, if a lighter skin led to better health outcomes than those with light skins would rapidly outbreed those with dark skins.

Right, that allele should come to be prominent, and changes in the environment may wipe it out.

[Dr. Who]

Are you familiar with the white and dark moths? Prior to coal mining all the moths were white with the occasional dark moth. Then coal mining and coal soot turned the trees dark. In just a few years the white moths had largely disappeared leaving only dark moths.

I believe the theory advanced for the success of the dark peppered moth was that the light colored moths no longer blended with the environment and were picked off by predators, thus depleting their population. There was no fundamental change in the moths. The dark moths survived to breed and the light moths didn't. When the pollution was cleaned up, the light colored moth population apparently reappeared.

[MisterVeritis]

I believe the theory advanced for the success of the dark peppered moth was that the light colored moths no longer blended with the environment and were picked off by predators, thus depleting their population. There was no fundamental change in the moths. The dark moths survived to breed and the light moths didn't. When the pollution was cleaned up, the light colored moth population apparently reappeared.

Exactly. Light skins in northern climes was a better option than dark skins. Light skins prevailed. Survival of the fittest involves the best fit to the existing situation.