Does anybody know what melanin is?

Question

Does it have any significance?

Answer 1

Melanin is a chemical in your skin which determines its darkness. The more melanin, the darker your skin. This is why bigotry seems so strange--the only real difference bigots seem to have an issue with is the amount of melanin in somebody's skin. It is also what causes us to tan. The sun causes it to rise to the surface slightly, causing our skin to look darker. The less we are exposed to the sun, the deeper it goes, causing the tan to fade.

Answer 2

Broadly, melanin is any of the polyacetylene, polyaniline, and polypyrrole "blacks" or their mixed copolymers. Melanin exists in the plant, animal and protista kingdoms, where, among other functions, it serves as a pigment.

In humans visible melanin is found in skin, hair, the coat of the retina, the medulla and zona reticularis of the adrenal gland, the inner ear, and the substantia nigra (in Latin, literally "black substance") and locus caeruleus ("blue spot"), of the brain. Melanin, which is a chemical substance manufactured in the epidermis, is the primary determinant of human skin color.

Some significance of melanin are:-
- Freckles and moles are formed where there is a greater concentration of melanin in the skin.
- Albinism is a condition in which an animal (such as a human or a mouse) is incapable of producing melanin, and hence appears white with pink eyes.

Answer 3

It's the pigment found in the skin and hair. The more melanin, the greater protection from ultra violet light. If you're an albino then you probably shouldn't try for a suntan.

Answer 4

a substance that gives the skin its color (also called pigment).
which occurs naturally in the skin (it gives skin and hair its color).

There are two types of melanin in hair: eumelanin (which gives hair brown or black color) and pheomelanin (which gives hair blonde or red color).


Melanin is a polymer of either or both of two monomer molecules: indolequinone, and dihydroxyindole carboxylic acid. Melanin exists in the plant, animal and protista kingdoms, where, among other functions, it serves as a pigment. The presence of melanin in the archaea and bacteria kingdoms is an issue of ongoing scholarly disagreement.

Answer 5

It is the prime determinant of skin color; the more you have, the more natually darker you are. Albino-human beings have very little or no melanin at all in their skin. You can also find melanin under/inside your retina, but it has no determination of what your eye color will be.

Answer 6

Melanin is the pigment in your skin that gives you a tan. It also causes the white in Potatoes to turn brown when you cut them and do not put them in water

Answer 7

Melanin is the pigment your body produces in response to UV exposure. It's what makes you tan. People whose bodies don't produce much get burnt easily because it's kind of a first line of defense for your skin.

Answer 8

Melanin is the substance in your skin that makes you tan in response to UV rays. Not enough melanin means that you don't tan, you burn.

Answer 9

Melanin is what gives your skin it's color.

Answer 10

Some humans have more of it than others.