Linger on My Pale Blue Eyes

Blue eyes were a mistake. Well, that might be a bit strong, but as I was rooting around Andrew Sullivan's blog earlier today, I noticed a post that linked to a National Geographic article about Darwin's birthday and new research about blue eyes. It was recently discovered that blue eyes are a fairly recent addition to the portfolio of human features. (And that discovery, first revealed just a year or so ago) seems to have been fairly well covered at the time, but I missed it. Blue eyes seem to have come into being only 6,000-10,000 years ago through a single genetic mutation in one person near the Black Sea. No one had blue eyes before that time. What caused blue eyes to flourish is unknown--do those of us with blue eyes (my immediate family all have the trait, so it's near and dear to my heart) have some other related traits or abilities that help us survive and thrive in some way? Could be, but when it comes right down to it, who knows? But then again, we didn't know when blue eyes emerged from brown eyes (or if brown eyes developed from blue) until last year. Maybe some scientists will figure out what, if any, added value blue eyes have supplied.