Better Red Than Dead
According to a story in National Geographic, redheads are not long for this earth. Not individual redheads, of course: your eccentric aunt or hot girlfriend or the boy at camp who won't go canoeing because he burns will live a long and rewarding life. But redheads as a species are nearly through. The phenomenon, which began thousands of years ago in Europe, originally helped to increase the body's ability to produce vitamin D from sunlight. Now, though, the mutation has outlasted its usefulness and redheads may be extinct within a hundred years. Meanwhile, please enjoy this presentation by Professor Eric Cartman.
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Redheads Going Extinct?
Posted Aug 23rd 2007 1:11PM by Ben Greenman
Filed under: Science, Bizarre
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Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 13)
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ccftpdtysh at 10:40AM on Jan 24th 2009
2. I have a new niece who has BRIGHT RED HAIR. Of course she's pale but she's still a baby. But then again, her father is a pale red head and her mother is pale also. This child doesnt stand a chance at not being pale. Her bright red hair is beautiful. She's only 4 months old so her hair may change colors later in life. And I mean it's carrot orange red ya know.
Denice at 3:57PM on Aug 23rd 2007
3. GINGERS!!! RUNNNNN!!!!!
;)
timber at 4:09PM on Aug 23rd 2007
4. I don't think so. Red-heads are not going to go extinct at all.
Lately, there have been MORE redheads born when taking into account population levels over the years than 100 years ago, so the science behind this is faulty, at best.
Christopher at 6:24PM on Aug 23rd 2007
5. I love redheads. When I was in graduate school, I knew a redhead was an undergraduate at the same university...wow, was she a babe. Ahhhh...the memories. I can still see her now.
kdm98 at 6:29PM on Aug 23rd 2007
6. This story is completely bogus. There was recently a hoax about how blondes/blue-eyed going extinct. They even cited the World Health Organization. Red haired genes are recessive, but as long as at least some red-haired people reproduce, the genes will survive, and will appear occasionally. Unless Cartman succeeds in his genocide...
kevin at 6:56PM on Aug 23rd 2007
7. I dunno...that Kirsten Dunst is a ginger.......and I'd be her gingerbread man any day..:)
Dave at 7:07PM on Aug 23rd 2007
8. I have red hair, and I am engaged to a redhead, and we're LDS/Mormon, so I think we will be contributing to the redhead populus. Not to mention about 2/3 of my ward are redheads or have 3-6 redheaded children amongst them
Jen at 8:53PM on Aug 23rd 2007
9. Hello,Im a Redhead{yeah!!!} look sorta like a copper penny,My daughter is also redhead,my youngest brother and his two sons.I want to say that we live in florida and around the water Lakes/Ocean all the time,and I tan dont burn...Hummm Now Our Parents where dark headed {black hair}Maybe the Indain in us makes me tan,and yeah they get kinda red from the sun,See ya at the beach!!! Krickett
Krickett at 10:22PM on Aug 23rd 2007
10. I don't understand why the "basement gang" cannoy accept their are wel trained scientists, in all fields, who many years of classwork, training & experience to know what they are doing and arrive at their findinds. They can't and don't use Google, half way read it and declare your "findings" as the concrete facts, never to be questions. "If it doesn't come from Mama's basement, it just ain't so".
Kerry at 11:06PM on Aug 23rd 2007
11. If your life was a bubble, would you be on the outside or inside?
Kerry at 11:12PM on Aug 23rd 2007
12. my god... you're all losers
tinmancmg at 9:30AM on Aug 24th 2007
13. This is either bogus or bad science, I'm not sure which.
The gene for redheads is a recessive. For a person to be born with red hair both parents have to carry the gene and both copies have to pair up. I personally have seen rehaired children of black, caucasian, and asian races. As long as there are people there is a possiblity of having a child with red hair.
mburns1 at 9:44AM on Aug 24th 2007
14. Global warming will certainly have an affect on redheads and their ultimate fate. In the world to come, with its warmer temperatures and constant haze due to the dramatic increase in particulates in the atmosphere and smog due to pollution because of corporate greed in the United States, redheads will have an advantage because they will be more easily seen by careening gas guzzling vehicles the American public will continue to crave. Because of this survival advantage and notwithstanding the banning of Darwin in all schools, redheads will make a great comback albeit a shortlived one due to the impending but yet undiscovered asteroid coming toward Earth, dooming us all except for rats and roaches.
eric at 9:57AM on Aug 24th 2007
15. I think redheads are soooooo lucky. I have Auburn hair but many in my family are redheads.
My daughters dye their hair when the red shows through, I wish they would appreciate their Irish/Scandinavian heritage and be proud of their natural red highlights.
rhodalee at 11:02AM on Aug 24th 2007