50 Shades Of Skin Research Paper

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Pages: 3

50 Shades of Skin

America is the melting pot of the world. It is a home where backgrounds are celebrated. If one were to take a snapshot of the phenology of America, they will notice the varying skin tones. What is the evolution behind the array of skin tones?

Human Skin
Homo Sapiens evolved about 200,000 years ago, in Africa. Humans are a continuing linage of primates. Many primates rely on hair to shield them from the harsh environments in which they habitats. Humans, unlike most primates, have developed the integumentary system. The integumentary system is an organ system consisting of the skin, hair, nails, and exocrine glands. The skin is a few millimeters thick, yet so vital to human survival. Skin is the largest organ on the human body principally because the cells reproduce quickly and often in abundance.
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Skin cells reproduce in the basement membrane, a thin, fibrous, extracellular matrix of tissue that separates the epidermis from the dermis. The new cells are forced to the exterior of the body clearing old, dead cells. Though this process slows with age, it continuously occurs until death. While the reproduction of skin remains the same from human to human, there is a varying difference in pigmentation. The 50 shades of mankind can be dated back to the first hominids.

Migration
To address the varying skin tones in humanity, one must address human migration across the world. As the earliest homo sapiens generations began migrating different directions of the world around 100,000 years ago. The equatorial placement of an organism gave way to natural selection. As ancestors traveled further away from the equator, they began to develop distinct features that complimented their