Human Skin Didn't Always Fear The Sun, Not Until A Huge Change 10,000 Years Ago

[Warpy]

Excellent introductory article by Dr. Nina Jablonski, too much to encapsulate in 4 paragraphs. It's more accessible than her lectures since it doesn't delve into things like molecular biology.

https://www.sciencealert.com/human-skin-didnt-always-fear-the-sun-not-until-a-huge-change-10000-years-ago

This might be a gateway drug, her online lectures are wonderful as she neatly torpedoes "race" based on skin color.

[jmbar2]

1. Fun website - thanks for sharing

[FirstLight]

2. really fascinating...

I'd love to know the evolution of skin desease. I have psoriasis and wonder if it was something the ancients had ro if it was more associated with settling into agricultural lifestyle (maybe even less sun exposure...since psoriasis gets canceled out by sunlight)

Now I can go googling and fall down the rabbithole...thanks! lol

[Warpy]

3. A lot of autimmune stuff seems to trace back to our Neandertal ancestors

Most people just got a few immune system changes that allowed them to survive the European diseases they had no immunity to. The immune system overshoots things in some of us and attacks our own tissue.

[cstanleytech]

5. Well, there is evidence that dinosaurs developed cancer so it stands to reason that

if dinosaurs had cancer then our ancestors had some of the same things we have now as well such as psoriasis.
The real question is how prevalent was it?

[cstanleytech]

4. Interesting article though I do think they are mistaken with their assumption that

things like tents, clothing and other things came about because of sun exposure.
Why?
Because I find it far more likely that the reason we started using things like tents and clothing was to protect us from things such as rain and the cold not to mention the snow that can come with said cold.

[Warpy]

6. Jablonski has a few lectures on You Tube

that might partially enlighten you.

It's most likely a chicken vs. egg thing for pale populations at high latitudes regarding clothing. In addition, a lot of equatorial populations have shelter, especially if there is a rainy season attended by clouds of malarial mosquitoes at dusk.

The population that is an exception to the rule, and which she does address, is the Inuit population at the polar circle around the globe.