Have you ever wondered where blues originated? Individuals and research teams alike have been perplexed by this question. According to the Cleveland Clinic, until around 10,000 years ago, it was thought that everyone on the planet had brown eyes. Blue eyes are now projected to account for 8-10% of the world’s population. How did that happen? According to researchers, blue eyes originated with a single person who passed on a genetic abnormality that spread around the world.

In other words, everyone with blue eyes descended from a single ancestor. Researchers from the University of Copenhagen investigated the specific genetic abnormality that resulted in blue eyes all those years ago in 2008. Their findings were reported in the Journal of Human Genetics. According to Science Daily, Professor Hans Eiberg, the study’s lead author, revealed that humans used to have brown eyes, but a gene mutation “turned off” the ability to make brown eyes, resulting in some people having blue eyes.

According to the news release, the afflicted gene, the OCA2 gene, governs brown pigment in the eyes. If the OCA2 gene was totally eliminated or “turned off,” affected people would have no melanin in their hair, eyes, or skin (a disease known as albinism). However, with the specific mutation, the body’s ability to create melanin in the iris is reduced, resulting in a blue iris rather than a brown iris.

The genetic mutation is neither positive nor negative. According to Eiberg, mutations can impact freckles, balding patterns, hair color, and other characteristics. He went on to say, “It simply shows that nature is constantly shuffling the human genome, creating a genetic cocktail of human chromosomes and trying out different changes as it does so.” According to the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, researchers examined the mitochondrial DNA of people with blue eyes from Jordan, Denmark, and Turkey.

The researchers discovered that over 97% of the blue-eyed persons in the study shared a single haplotype – a cluster of inherited genetic changes.As a result, researchers assume that the mutation is genetically transmitted, implying that everyone with blue eyes is connected. Eiberg stated in a press statement distributed by EurekaAlerta!, “From this, we can conclude that all blue-eyed individuals are related to the same ancestor.” They both inherited the same switch in their DNA.” That’s all there is to it!