Science: All blue-eyed people have a single ancestor.

I saw an interesting article on MSNBC.com today that says that scientists have recently come to the conclusion that a single genetic mutation -- from "a single, common ancestor" -- is responsible for people having blue eyes.

There are a couple of things that really jump out at me from this article, so let me quote it for you:

The mutation occurred between 6,000 and 10,000 years ago, so before then, there were no blue eyes.

"Originally, we all had brown eyes," said Hans Eiberg from the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the University of Copenhagen.

And:

Eiberg and his team examined DNA from mitochondria, the cells' energy-making structures, of blue-eyed individuals in countries including Jordan, Denmark and Turkey. This genetic material comes from females, so it can trace maternal lineages.

First off, how old do all of those wacky, 'Young Earth' movement Creationists claim the world is? Oh, hang on. That's right. Let me quote Wikipedia:

Young Earth creationism is the religious belief that Heaven, Earth, and life on Earth were created by a direct act of God dating between 6,000 and 10,000 years ago.

Interesting that the scientists can pinpoint the time that the 'genetic mutation' that caused us to have blue-eyed people to a single, female ancestor around that same time Biblical Creationists say God created mankind, eh? Kind of makes you wonder if our "single, female ancestor's" brown-eyed husband called her 'Eve' ...

[ It's also interesting that, according to genetic science, we can all trace our most recent common ancestor (ie: the person from which all of currently living mankind descended) to some point between 5,000 and 15,000 years ago. One statistical simulation (see: Figure 4) even placed that point at just about 7,500 years ago -- you know, almost right exaclty between the 6,000 and 10,000 years that those wacky Creationists point to. But, I digress ... ]