Every blue eyed person on the planet is a descendant of one single person

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Blue-eyed people, listen up.

Well wonder no more.

It's been found by scientists that every person with blue eyes is a descendant of a single person who lived in Europe around 6,000 to 10,000 years back.

How did they figure it out? Originally, all humans had brown eyes in different shades until there was a particular mutation that caused a change.

The mutation is a gene called Herc 2, and it switches off ''OCA2'', the gene that determines how much brown pigment we produce.

The unique circumstances that lead to the absence of melanin deposits in the eyes result in their colour becoming blue.

Alive today has this identical mutation.

Scientists reckon only 8 to 10 per cent of the population have blue eyes. Better still, eyes don't fully develop in childhood, which means the brown pigment can kick in later on, and blue-eyed kids can grow up to have brown eyes.

G'day! If you've got blue peepers, you now know – your family's a lot bigger than you might've thought it was before.

A team at the University of Copenhagen has made some research public.

G'day, mate. Originally, all of us had brown eyes. But a genetic mutation affecting the OCA2 gene in our chromosomes set off a switch, if you like, which basically 'switched off' our ability to produce brown eyes.

This story was originally published on 3 October 2022.

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