Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Science/2021 April 20

= April 20 =

Where are the whitest people in the world?
In this article, it's written that "the native people of Bougainville, Papua New Guinea, have some of the darkest skin pigmentation in the world". But where are the whitest people located in the world? (I guess in Europe, but even as an European I'm not sure where exactly it is).--ThePupil (talk) 00:41, 20 April 2021 (UTC)
 * Jablonski and Chaplin have collected and reported published information on the skin color of indigenous populations of 85 locations spread over more than 50 countries (ref. [20]  in our article Light skin). Based on the measured skin reflectance at 685 nm (red), where higher reflectance corresponds to a lighter skin tone, the top 40 are all in the Northern Hemisphere, followed by "South Africa (Cape)". (This raises the question how "indigenous" was defined.) The top 13 are all in Western Europe, with the Netherlands heading the list. Scandinavia and Iceland are not represented, though.  --Lambiam 09:55, 20 April 2021 (UTC)
 * I've seen extremely pale people in Northern Norway, you don't see people with such light skin color outside of Scandinavia. If you saw someone like that elsewhere, you'd think that the person was anemic. Count Iblis (talk) 17:15, 20 April 2021 (UTC)


 * It's not a location, but a genetic condition. See Albinism in humans. --OuroborosCobra (talk) 17:57, 20 April 2021 (UTC)
 * Like Nói albinói. --Lambiam 12:03, 21 April 2021 (UTC)
 * The comparison with "people [who] have some of the darkest skin pigmentation in the world" tells me that the OP is asking about overall populations, not albinos. There are people in Ireland who (outside of some freckles) appear to be very pale. I wonder if anyone has compared them with a true albino to estimate how close they are to zero pigment? Are there people other than albinos who are totally unable to form a tan?
 * Related question: is there a genetic condition that is the opposite of albinism? I suppose that Addison's disease may come close, but the darkening seems to be a side effect with that condition. --Guy Macon (talk)
 * Various other conditions are described under Hyperpigmentation, though none are really "opposite" to albinism. See also List of skin conditions. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 2.219.35.136 (talk) 05:25, 21 April 2021 (UTC)
 * Revealed: Why the Irish are the most fair-skinned people in the world:-
 * {{xt|"In 2016, scientists found that our [Irish} pale skin complexion is inherited from just one man who lived thousands of years ago. Researches at Penn State University identified SLC24A5 as the gene responsible for skin pigmentation, and a specific mutation within it responsible for fair skin. The mutation, A111T, is found most commonly in Ireland and all who possess it share a common genetic code descended from the same ONE person. We don't know his name, but he lived in India or the Middle East around 10,000 years ago, before his ancestors eventually brought the gene to Ireland via the Iberian Peninsula".}}
 * Alansplodge (talk) 18:13, 21 April 2021 (UTC)
 * To be sure, the place also has more than it's fair share of gingers. Martinevans123 (talk) 21:33, 21 April 2021 (UTC)
 * An obvious revenge, hem, against bacteriology, note. --Askedonty (talk) 20:16, 25 April 2021 (UTC)
 * I mean, the guy was not yet worrying about surgical scrub caps, wide and large --Askedonty (talk) 21:00, 25 April 2021 (UTC)
 * @Guy Macon The closest concept is probably melanism. Matt Deres (talk) 19:53, 21 April 2021 (UTC)
 * I'm not sure you should assume that the "whitest" (as in palest) people are Europeans. Skin colour tends to correlate to latitude, and there are plenty of places in Asia at a comparable latitude.  And speaking from personal experience, I've seen a fair number of Chinese and Japanese people that are paler than the typical European (although that might be due to cultural reasons, eg not viewing a sun-tan as fashionable, rather than anything innate). Iapetus (talk) 13:11, 23 April 2021 (UTC)

Realism in "Godzilla vs. Kong (2021)"
Dr Nathan: Are you guys familiar with genetic memory? It's a theory that all Titans share a common impulse to return to their evolutionary source.

Ren Serizawa: Like spawning salmon.

Is "spawning salmon" good example for return to their evolutionary source? Rizosome (talk) 15:13, 20 April 2021 (UTC)
 * No, because "evolutionary source" is a meaningless concept in this context. It sounds all "sciency" but it really doesn't make sense; the dialogue makes it sound like a geographic location from which a species originated, but that's not how evolution works, nor is it why some species of salmon return to where they spawn.  While it is broadly true that the defining characteristic of Salmonidae (the salmon family) is that they spawn in fresh water; it does not mean that the place they return is the location where the species evolved; if that were so literally every salmon in the world would be heading up the exact same river, and would continue to do so forever.  They don't do that.  I mean, people generally understand how salmon spawning works, so it's the sort of thing that does make sense for the audience, as long as you don't think about it too hard.  Like pretty much all movie dialogue, especially as it relates to science.  -- Jayron 32 15:42, 20 April 2021 (UTC)
 * Wait...what? Are you saying Godzilla isn't real? We have him on film! Excuse me, I have to inform the other engineers who are working with me on the Mechagodzilla project. We may have wasted a large amount of the taxpayer's money.   :(   -Guy Macon (talk) 19:36, 20 April 2021 (UTC)
 * Not to mention that Titans are also not real, with the possible exception of the New York Titans. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 21:56, 20 April 2021 (UTC)
 * Well, the Titans evolved into only a marginally real football team; some might even say their annual chances of success are purely fictional. The Tennessee Titans, on the other hand, have had more recent successes.  -- Jayron 32 12:50, 21 April 2021 (UTC)
 * AFAIK there are no titans at all in reality, so there is no titan-related science in reality, either. The more in the Godzilla series, which is fantastic, not real. Hence its content is not real, too. Any 'science' provided there serves as explanation for fantasy, as such it makes no real sense. Searching for it is futile. --CiaPan (talk) 23:34, 20 April 2021 (UTC)
 * I recall seeing an early Godzilla movie in which one thing seemed real: The Kenner Girder and Panel building sets being destroyed by the monster. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 00:41, 21 April 2021 (UTC)