Blue Eyes

In human beings, brown eyes are the default, and blue occurs only when that default is turned off. blue-eyed mutation occurred, the person who carried it would have had brown eyes. But as time proceeded, a man and a woman who each carried that one blue-eyed gene mutation mated and produced the world's first blue-eyed baby. (starting to feel like an X-man here)

Today, some 300 million people carry that one mutation, and it is still not known why it is so common in some populations. Blue eyes are relatively rare in the United States, but very common in countries near the mutation epicenter, which the researchers have pinpointed to be somewhere in the Balkans or near the Black Sea. In Estonia, for example, 99 percent of the population has blue eyes, while 75 percent of Germans have blue eyes (i did get discounts in a Balvarian hotel in Brazil once cause the owners thought I was german...lol)

A study of thoudsands of white me (all of them prisoners) found that for some reason, those with light eye colors like blue, green, gray or hazel, can handle more alcohol than men with dark eyes. And a totally different study of almost 2,000 women found that the same held true for them.

Even more interesting is the fact that this result was predicted before the study. Because apparently brown-eyed folks are more sensitive to medication and other stimuli, and that sensitivity is what prompts them to stop when they've had enough. Blue-eyed people, on the other hand, require more alcohol to get buzzed, so they develop a greater tolerance for the stuff. And according to the study, the blue-eyed people are also more likely to be alcohol abusers.

As for what eye color has to do with alcohol tolerance, scientists are still on the fence. One theory is that the amount of melanin in the eyes is directly related to the amount of melanin insulating neurons in the central nervous system, and that more melanin somehow translates to quicker nerve transmissions. In any case, you might want to think again before challenging someone with blues eye to a drinking contest. (anybody could drink me under the table, I am an amature)