Question about people with dark skin and people with light skin?

Question

(This is a serious question, not any sort of racist commentary.....)

Why did humans living in hotter parts of the world evolve with darker skin and humans in colder parts with lighter skin?

It occurred to me that in order for humans to be more comfortable it should be the other way round because dark skin absorbs heat while light skin reflects it.....

Any thoughts?

Wow! Thanks for all your thoughtful answers so far!

Answer 1

Evolution !!!!!!!!

If you are lighter in skin color and are living in a region that has high intensity of solar radiation i.e. the tropics, chances are that you will be more exposed to harmful ultra violet radiation and develop skin cancer and other ailments

if you have darker skin you have a better chance of survival living in regions that have high solar radiation because you would be more immune to skin/eye diseases caused by ultra violet radiation.

people in colder climates are always covered ( to protect from the cold) so the parts that ARE exposed need to produce vitamin D in over drive, that's why they have lighter skin

Answer 2

White skin absorbs more light than dark skin. (That's why white people sunburn easily. If only I reflected the sun!) When human beings migrated into colder territories with little sunlight, it became genetically advantageous to have lighter skin. Why? Because the temperature was so cold that human beings had to cover the majority of their bodies with furs, as well as stay sheltered from the freezing climate, so the few parts of the body that weren't cloaked needed to overcompensate when exposed to the sun, otherwise risk serious vitamin-d deficiency.

Now reverse that. People in hotter climates needed melanin to block out the sunlight, otherwise the overabundance of sun would have damaging effects.

Answer 3

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/07/3/text_pop/l_073_04.html

The link above should give you all the science you need to know. Mostly, it's about Vitamin D (and folate):
"Until the 1980s, researchers could only estimate how much ultraviolet radiation reaches Earth's surface. But in 1978, NASA launched the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer. Three years ago, Jablonski and Chaplin took the spectrometer's global ultraviolet measurements and compared them with published data on skin color in indigenous populations from more than 50 countries. To their delight, there was an unmistakable correlation: The weaker the ultraviolet light, the fairer the skin. Jablonski went on to show that people living above 50 degrees latitude have the highest risk of vitamin D deficiency. "This was one of the last barriers in the history of human settlement," Jablonski says. "Only after humans learned fishing, and therefore had access to food rich in vitamin D, could they settle these regions."

(You need UV to make vitamin D)

Answer 4

I really prefer a woman's skin to be of the Asian variety(SLIGHTLY IVORY/BEIGE/TINTED/OR A PERMINENT TAN WITHOUT THE PAIN OF GETTING A TAN) owing to the exciting blend of the main skin over the body and the prominent points of the vital sexual parts that are more prominent than the rest of the body parts,have you ever looked at a Siamese cat,well,that is what I am referring to,and besides the Asian hair is far more exciting and "silky" to the touch,so yes,my preference is ASIAN WOMEN way out front ,ANYTIME,coupled with their smallness in body structure,is an ideal characteristic and good for us men,far better than the white BULLFROG's AND TOAD'S that we are breeding in the west.I am also fond of a mixed breed,as this stems from a hardier woman of darker skin and the culture is more akin to pleasurable expectations' than "our" women , who are, - "fat, lazy,grossly unexcercised,laclustre,disinterested and boring , cellulosed,undisciplined ,unkempd, uncouth,arrogant,Smelly,Stinky,dirty,slo... and uninterested in pleasurable pursuits".I think that the west has kept us away from the Orient because somehow they knew that the time is cumming when the eastern women will take over as the foremost in cultural prominence for this very reason,that is that us western MEN,are fed up with being treated with consistant contempt-(tough on you my whitie' chicks).Instead of beeing real women the white women want to be more like men instead of just beeing themselves,which the oriental women still are practicing,and they know what us men want too,and give all of it WILLINGLY,WITH SMILING, JOY AND ALL PLEASURE FOR THOSE WHO TAKE PART.EVEN THIER FOOD,IS SUPERIOR IN HEALTHINESS,TO OUR FOOD.As a foot note-I think the western nations have LOST the ART OF LIVING CORRECTLY.

Answer 5

ur doubt is excellent really keep it up
and ans for it is ...........
seee hot regions the people have dark skin and dark absorbs heat but dont consider the heat consider the hot radiations which are more messy than heat so the melanin which is there accumilates one the subcutanious layer so the melanin layer acts as sun screeen but what do dear me people feeeeeel sooo hot cos dark color absorb heat god!!!! save them .

Answer 6

being black or white is related to ur genes responsible for melanin pigments formation.
those who live in hot areas should have sth protecting them from high and strong direct radiations of the sun which can penetrate their skin and may be fatal.that's why black or brown people have high and activ melanin formation to protect them against high levels of exposure to the sun.
on the other side for white people,When their skin is exposed to the meager sunlight, the scant amount of melanin their skin produces is unable to block the sunlight.
that's why white people should be cautious if travelling to a hot country to not get exposed to sunlight a lot unless skin cancer may occur.

Answer 7

People wiht dark skins have a high concentration of Melanin on their body.

Answer 8

the skin of dark skin or black people converts sun rays to vitamins then it's better for them to live in sunny hot places,
That's what I know about that subject