Harvard study finds natural selection favored the red hair ... - Fox News
A Harvard study indicates natural selection has favored red hair for millennia, suggesting redheads may become more common as humans continue to evolve.
www.foxnews.comHere’s the latest I can share based on recent reporting.
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A Harvard-led study analyzing about 16,000 ancient and modern genomes finds that genetic variants linked to red hair have risen in frequency over roughly the last 10,000 years in West Eurasia, suggesting natural selection has been acting on these traits for millennia. This work also highlights related changes in skin color and other traits, underscoring that natural selection may have shaped multiple aspects of the modern genome in concert.[1][3][5]
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The researchers used advanced methods to separate signals of selection from migration or drift, and they report a steady rise in MC1R-related variants such as rs1805007 and rs1805008, which are associated with red hair and lighter skin. They emphasize that the exact advantage driving this selection is still debated (e.g., vitamin D synthesis in low-sun environments versus linkage with other beneficial traits).[3][5][1]
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Media coverage across outlets cites similar conclusions, noting that red-haired alleles, along with other light-skin and disease-related variants, appear more frequently in modern West Eurasians than in ancient populations, pointing to ongoing evolutionary dynamics in the recent past. Some summaries frame this as a broader insight: natural selection may be more influential in shaping the genome than previously thought.[4][5][9]
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For context, a few sources reiterate the core finding: natural selection has acted on the red hair gene and related variants over millennia, with the evolving pattern likely reflecting environmental and health-related factors rather than a single simple cause. The exact historical drivers remain an active area of research.[5][8][4]
If you’d like, I can pull the most up-to-date primary articles (e.g., the Nature paper and related commentary) and summarize their methods and key figures, or prepare a quick visual timeline of allele frequency changes over time. Would you prefer a brief literature-focused summary or a concise chart/timeline?
Citations:
- Red hair gene evolution and selection over 10,000 years in West Eurasia[1]
- Independent coverage and quotes on the same study and its method[5]
- Additional media discussion of vitamin D and skin/light phenotype changes linked to MC1R variants[3]