View full lesson: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-science-of-skin-color-angela-koine-flynn When ultraviolet sunlight hits our skin, it affects each of us differently. Depending on skin color,...
========== When ultraviolet sunlight hits our skin, it affects each of us
a little differently. Depending on skin color, it will take
only minutes of exposure to turn one person beetroot-pink, while another requires hours to experience
the slightest change. So what's to account for that difference and how did our skin come to take on
so many different hues to begin with? Whatever the color, our skin tells an epic tale
of human intrepidness and adaptability, revealing its variance to be
a function of biology. It all centers around melanin, the pigment that gives
skin and hair its color. This ingredient comes from skin cells
called melanocytes and takes two basic forms. There's eumelanin, which gives rise
to a range of brown skin tones, as well as blac...