• Question: why are white people white

    Asked by ixabdulxi to Andrew, Ben, Beth, Heather, Louisa on 16 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Beth Dyson

      Beth Dyson answered on 16 Jun 2010:

      Skin colour is determined by the amount and type of melanin in your skin. Melanin is a compound in your skin called a pigment. Pigments absorb light, and make your skin darker. The more melanin you have, the darker your skin. Your skin will produce more melanin in response to sunlight, which is what makes you tan!

      Believe it or not, parts of your brain also have melanin, so brains can be different colours in different people!

    • Photo: Andrew McKinley

      Andrew McKinley answered on 16 Jun 2010:

      White people are the result of black people living in higher latitutdes. Less sun, more clothing means there is less need for melanin in our skin, so it faded away. When white people are exposed to the sun, the body makes more melanin to protect our skin, so we tan.

    • Photo: Ben Still

      Ben Still answered on 16 Jun 2010:

      A fine balance between protection of our skin and production of vitamin D, which the body uses the UV light in sunlight to produce. Life began in Africa and as black Humans travelled further North where there was less sunlight then they evolved to have less pigment, called melanin (not only in their skin but also their hair). This happened so that more of the UV light from the Sun could reach the lower regions of the skin where our bodies make vitamin D.

      I am not sure on the finer details but there is a good article on it here: http://knol.google.com/k/why-are-europeans-white-e1#

    • Photo: Louisa Chard

      Louisa Chard answered on 16 Jun 2010:

      Skin colour is determined by the production of a protein called melanin. The more melanin produced by your cells, the darker the skin colour. How much is produced is determined by your genes and this is in turn determined by where you ancestors are from. Darker skins produce more melanin to protect the skin from sunlight, so those with ancestors from very sunny climates would have darker skin. Those whose ancestors moved to less sunny climates would have lighter skin as their ancestors didn’t need as much melanin so evolved to produce less.

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