Racism is a major problem in our world today.
But do you know? that a very small part of our genes actually determines our skin color.
for that small difference in our genes, we've made racism a way bigger problem than what it actually should be
Our skin color ranges from darkest brown to pinkish white.
It's a result of natural selection.
And it evolved in order to regulate the amount of UV radiation from sun that penetrates our skin.
Skin color is actually affected by many different types of proteins.
But the most important factor is the presence or absence of melanin.
Melanin is a complex protein that is derived from an amino acid called Tyrosine.
It is made in a specialized types of cells called melanocytes and released outside of the cell in a bubble like vesicles.
It's usually brown or black in color.
Other than your skin, different types of melanin can also be found in your hair, in your eyes and even in areas of your brain.
SO DO WHITE PEOPLE HAVE WHITE MELANIN?
NO!
Melanin is usually brown or black.
The more melanin a person has, the darker he or she becomes. Which means, white people have a very small amount of melanin.
This can be either due to decreased number of melanocytes that produce melanin,
Or by decreased production of melanin itself by each melanocyte.
Their skin color is therefore determined by the connective tissue under the upper layer of their skin,
And by blood in their veins under the dermis.
Now, there's another type of melanin called Pheo-Melanin, which is red or yellow in color. But, we'll leave that topic for now.
The reason why light skinned people get all red during exercise is because, as blood containing arterioles dilate,
there's no melanin that blocks the redness from reflecting.
Although our natural skin color is mainly affected by our genes, it is also somewhat affected by our environment.
for example, if a light skinned person travels to an area where there's higher UV radiation such as Africa,
their skin color would get a little darker to protect their skin. Although, the change wouldn't be that significant.
Light skinned people use this phenomenon to get a certain complexion by exposing themselves to UV radiation.
And we call this?? TANNING!!
