# Is white skin a Neanderthal trait? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 6, 2012, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-white-skin-a-neanderthal-trait/614915 "2012-03-06T09:22:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-white-skin-a-neanderthal-trait/614915/21 "2012-03-07T04:00:28Z")
> **[Human skin color](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_skin_color)** > > Human skin color ranges from the darkest brown to the lightest hues. Differences in skin color among individuals is caused by variation in pigmentation, which is the result of genetics (inherited from one's biological parents and or individual gene alleles), exposure to the sun, natural and sexual selection, or all of these. Differences across populations evolved through natural selection or sexual selection, because of social norms and differences in environment, as well as regulations of th... ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-white-skin-a-neanderthal-trait/614915/22 "2012-03-07T04:33:45Z")
Note the huge difference between the populations “East Asian” and “African and European” and your original claim that “All Asians have the same gene”. That’s not a trivial distinction. Nothing in that paper suggests that Arab and Indians have a genetically different skin colour from Europeans, which is what you told us was the case. Nor does it support your claim that Persians and Afghans have the same genetics as Indonesians and Phillipinos. Europeans, Arabs, Persians and most Indians sharing a genetic commonality isn’t even news, much less implausible. Those groups share a common languages. Similarly, Chinese, Koreans and Japanese also share a common language root, and it would also be astonishing that they did not share common genetics. That’s a far cry from your claim that Europeans are genetically distinct from Arabs, Persians and most Indians, and your claim that Arabs, Persians and most Indians have a genetic commonality with Indonesians and Phillipinos. That’s a huge, huge, difference. ---
**Author:** ![Snupzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/54ee81/32.png) [@Snupzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snupzilla)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-white-skin-a-neanderthal-trait/614915/23 "2012-03-07T05:04:24Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > Chinese, Koreans and Japanese also share a common language root, and it would also be astonishing that they did not share common genetics. All three are actually are not related to each other. Korean is a linguistic isolate related to no known language. Japanese is in a very small family that is pretty much just Japanese. Chinese languages belong to a larger language family that includes Tibetan among others. There are theories that Korean and Japanese might be related but there is no proven link. Japanese and Korean both borrowed a lot of loan words from Chinese but they have always been distinct languages. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-white-skin-a-neanderthal-trait/614915/24 "2012-03-07T05:51:05Z")
I stand corrected. For some reason i though they were the same language group. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-white-skin-a-neanderthal-trait/614915.md?page=1)