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01/15/2006:

"The face of the future: Why Eurasians are changing the rules of attraction"

Sorry, pale blonds. People with mixed-race faces appear healthier and more appealing, so have evolutionary advantages, research reveals.

With her blond flowing locks and pale skin, the goddess of love, Venus, is seen as the epitome of beauty, as depicted by generations of artists such as Botticelli.

But new research appears to turn this theory on its head. Scientists now believe that people of mixed race, particularly Eurasians, possess certain genetic advantages that lead to greater health and, as a result, increased attractiveness.

In the first study of its kind, Caucasians and Japanese people rated Eurasian faces as more attractive than faces of either race. Researchers developed a series of faces, ranging from those with exaggerated Caucasian features to those with exaggerated Japanese features. When Caucasian and Japanese volunteers looked at photographs of Caucasian, Japanese and Eurasian faces, both groups rated the Eurasian faces the most attractive and healthiest. People from other racial backgrounds will, of course, have their own preferred blends.

One researcher said the results proved that "our preferences are shaped by evolution". Humans would have encountered few individuals of mixed race when they first evolved. Only with the West's colonisation of Africa, the Americas and the Far East, as well as the trade links that were then established around the world, did different races mix more readily.
independent.co.uk

Spinning evolutionary hypotheses about race without considering social and historical factors is the hallmark of European science. 150 years ago, it was used as a justification for theft and slaughter. The implications of the idea that racial composition reflects or confers evolutionary fitness is a most dangerous idea, and it's certain that the ultimate losers in equations such as this are always dark-skinned Africans.