Skin deep

For many decades that have passed, the human skin color has occasionally been considered as the definition of race. The technology including science has found a way of relating the skin color and the immediate environment humanity thrives. In the Equatorial Africa, ancient human lost the hair covering the body and went into the open lands where the skin had to adapt to the new environment in order to reduce the effects of ultraviolet radiation. Melanin is a term that is used to define a group of natural pigments which can be located in most organisms’, especially human skin. Melanin is a product that is obtained from the oxidation of what is known as the amino acid tyrosine and the polymerization. Amino acids are chemicals that are of importance biologically which are organic compounds in nature containing amine and carboxyl functional groups. Key elements for these organic compounds known as amino acids are hydrogen, nitrogen, carbon, and oxygen although the side chains of amino acids contain the other elements. Amino acids are large in number and can be categorized in many other ways. Polymerization, on the other hand, is combining monomer particles together through a compound reaction to form a three-dimensional system also known as the polymer.

There are basically two types of melanin which are known as the eumelanin and the pheomelanin. The eumelanin is categorized into two types which are the black and the brown eumelanin whereas the pheomelanin is of a single type that is the red color polymer. The benzothiazine contained in the pheomelanin are basically the ones responsible for the red in color hair in pigmentation. In the skin, the melanogenesis immediately appears after exposing the skin to the ultraviolet radiation which causes the skin to darken thereby reducing the sun effects. Melanin in its nature is very much effective when it comes to absorbing the light where dissipation by the pigments is about a hundred percent ultraviolet radiation absorption. Melanin is also very effective in reducing the occurrence of skin cancer. 

Carolus Linnaeus was one of Swedish physician, botanist and a zoologist who involved himself much in naming organisms which are known as binomial nomenclature. According to the book races and the people of the world, the hypothesis between the human skin color and the sunlight is that the skin evolved in many different forms in order to reduce the effects of sunlight. Eventually, the skin had its adaptation and the production of vitamin D begun where the skin benefited from the sunlight. The environment of rift valley 5 million years ago involved a flat, region that was homogenous and covered in tropical forest. The savannah climatic conditions forced the hominins to adapt life on the ground from the trees by having to walk on two feet. The lakes around were fresh and which were mostly used by the ancient humans as a source of water. The vegetation and climatic conditions in rift valley regions were mostly filled with trees and tall grass but eventually as savannah climatic conditions formed, mountainous and deep waters were developed. During the Turkana Bay times, the land had already pulled apart from the North American parts and forced the creation of mountains and ridges. The tall trees had already vanished and the area was now occupied by the savannah grassland conditions that forced the hominins to adapt living on the grounds rather than on trees.

Due to the harsh cold climatic conditions in East Africa, the body of hominins was covered with fur and the color of the skin was brown. This is because the hominins had evolved mind-wise and also they adapted to using tools therefore no longer lived on trees. The change in skin color occurred since the climatic conditions forced the disappearance of fur to soft short hair. Australia receives one of the highest levels of ultraviolet radiation in the whole world. Skin cancer in Australia is highly caused by the fair-haired skin which is mostly associated with lack of melanin in the body. The direct sunlight hits the bear skin and the skin has no or less melanin, therefore, causing skin cancer on the individual. Skin cancer has been caused by the direct exposure of bare skin to the sun and this is highly caused by lack of enough melanin in the skin, therefore, skin evolution could not have been caused by skin cancer as the sunburns will affect immediately but through direct longer periods exposure.

The two forms of infrared energy are the infrared energy A and infrared energy B. Infrared energy A has the longest wave and can penetrate deeper into the skin. Vitamin D is essential in the formation of bones and in the absorption of calcium in the body. Ultraviolet radiation B reaches the skin and therefore a major source of vitamin D. Rickets is a disease that is caused by the lack of enough vitamin D in the body. The oils given in the 1920’s to cure rickets was the cod liver oil. In North America, the climatic conditions are very low during winter and the dark skinned ancestors could never survive due to lack of vitamin D. the large numbers of melanin in the dark skinned people is adaptive for the hot regions and therefore further from the equator will cause the death of any dark-skinned people due to lack of vitamin D. different individuals have been known to develop different adaptations and according to how many melanin is present in the body and thus the very dark individuals can never be classified as the white individuals as they develop different adaptations. Skin pigmentation is tough and the idea of practically doing it is impossible since different individuals have developed different skin colors over time.