Jen Thomas
If you've got blue eyes, then you share a connection with all other blue-eyed people on earth.
They say there are six degrees of separation, but folks with blue eyes might share one big connecting detail, and no, before you joke, it's not 'all having blue eyes'.
Although, it is certainly a factor in it.
Between 8 to 10 percent of the world's population are estimated to have blue eyes, according to Medical News Today, with brown coming out tops with 79 percent as of 2020.
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Our eye colour is determined by the OCA2 gene, which filters how much brown pigment your eyes have.
However, according to researchers at the University of Copehagen, when looking into those with blue eyes, an entirely different gene was present, called HERC2, which is responsible for switching off OCA2.
And further research indicated that all blue-eyed people shared this gene with one common ancestor, with it being believed that this change happened when humans first migrated to Europe from Africa - which explains why blue eyes are typically present in those with European descent.
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Professor Hans Eiberg is from the University of Copenhagen’s Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine further explained: “Originally, we all had brown eyes. But a genetic mutation affecting the OCA2 gene in our chromosomes resulted in the creation of a ‘switch’, which literally ‘turned off’ the ability to produce brown eyes.”
And as is expected in the natural world, this mutation must have been attractive enough to some people to be continued down the genetic pool.
The identity of this first ancestor isn't known, but they are thought to have lived more than 6,000 to 10,000 years ago.
Professor Eiberg says the presence of the HERC2 gene 'simply shows that nature is constantly shuffling the human genome, creating a genetic cocktail of human chromosomes and trying out different changes as it does so'.
He added: "They have all inherited the same switch at exactly the same spot in their DNA."
Melanin is the key between eye colours, as Professor Eiberg goes onto say that those with green eyes, which is even rarer at approximately 2 percent, have a 'reduced amount of melanin in the iris, which is very different to those with blue eyes'.
But while you might not be able to claim you have a super rare eye colour, you can take comfort in the fact that blue eyes - especially in men - are rated pretty high on dating apps.
According to a 2021 study by Lenstore, blue eyes were more desirable in male partners, while the hazel-eyed girlies were more lucky when it came to women.