For all the gingers out there, your days may be numbered as scientists believe the gene may be on the decrease thanks to climate change.
According to leading scientists, climate change is going to have a huge and irreversible effect on the planet and humankind, and the first victims might be gingers. Dr Alistair Moffat, managing director of ScotlandsDNA, believes that the gene that produces red hair and pale skin developed as a result of cloudy weather and conditions in Scotland and Ireland, where "we do not get enough sun and we have to get all the Vitamin D we can", he told The Independent. The body produces pale skin and red hair as a result, in order to facilitate the absorption of the vitamin and other benefits of sunlight.
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With climate change, however, that gene could be on the wane as conditions change and more sunny weather is headed to those regions where redheads tend to be more numerous. This would obviously mean that less great red-headed celebrities such as Damian Lewis, Conan O'Brien or the lovely Karen Gillan would come our way, so we should appreciate them while they're here.
Pic via WENN
The reason that evolution may choose to rid humankind of ginger people is because the gene that produces red hair also yields pale skin, which is more sensitive to light and more prone to sun damage and cancer. While this is all scary news for the 2% (or thereabouts) of the human population that have red hair, it won't happen overnight, as another scientist (who The Independent claim did not want to be named) believed the process would take hundreds of years.
However, he did confirm that while this is just a theory, the gene could be in danger if climate change continues to bring warmer conditions to those region where there are a greater number of people who carry the gene, as "red hair and blue eyes are not adapted to a warm climate".
Via The Independent. In the interest of balance, this article was written by a ginger, who is devastated that his kind is facing extinction.