When ultraviolet sunlight hits our skin, it affects each of us differently. Depending on skin color, it’ll take only minutes of exposure to turn one person beetroot-pink, while another requires hours to experience the slightest change. What’s to account for that difference, and how did our skin come to take on so many different hues to begin with?
In this video by educator Angela Koine Flynn, with animation by Tomás Pichardo-Espaillat, we explore The Science of Skin Color and the adaptability of humans to their location on planet Earth. As it turns out, “…skin color is little more than an adaptive trait for living on a rock that orbits the sun.”
Next: Lupita Nyong’o Loves Her Skin, How the Sun Sees You, and How do wounds heal & how do scars form?