Darwin travelled the world exploring variation within and between species. Despite all the evidence of variation within other species existing for a specific purpose, he still wrote off the variation of human skin color as having no evolutionary significance. This is not the case. Humans evolved around the equator where UV light was the strongest. Particularly, the equator gets the highest intensity of UVB lighting which is a key catalyst for the vitamin B. Melanin was also utilized as a sunscreen to protect DNA from the damage of UV light while giving the its darker pigmentation. As humans traveled away from equator, they adapted to the environment with less UV exposure and evolved to have lighter pigmentation in their skin. Many different groups of humans travelled away from the equator at different points of time, even the Neanderthals experienced this change in skin pigmentation. With humans moving all over the world, people with darker skin pigmentation are now living in an environment they are not suited for and have resulting heath issues and vice versa for those of lighter skin pigmentation.
Recent comments