Skin Representation Lab Report

The article from www.Sciencedaily.com. “ Natural selection has altered the appearance of Europeans over the past 5,000 years” discusses how scientists have finally discovered how natural selection played a role on the human genome in the past 5,000 years and how it caused transformations in the appearances of people, in their skin, eye and hair pigmentation. This research had been on going for a long time and unfortunately; the methods the geneticists originally used did not produce good results.

This study considered a skinfold assessment performed at the right triceps and the measurement of the body fat percentage by mean of a Bioelectrical impendance machine (BIM). This is a more complex method. It is hypothesised that there is a positive linear relationship between skinfold thickness and body fat

There weren’t any factors that could have made my data erroneous. However, I felt the skin folds’ data was not accurate. I believe the reason that may be is because of my muscle mass. The underwater weighing is the most accurate body fat calculations you can get. One factor that could have made the erroneous is by not realizing all the air bubbles out of your shorts. Another factor is not blowing out all of the air in your lungs. It took me a few times to get all of the air out of my lungs. The first and second time calculations were completely different. Following the second results me third and fourth calculations were close. Overall, the test was precise and most definitely reliable.

Over time, those who stayed in Africa had an increased melanin production and gained a ‘black’ complexion (see fig 1.3) whilst those who left for Europe began to grow diverse combinations of pigmentations (red hair w/blue eyes etc.). From this theory, it is then believed all Caucasian’s are branched from Albinistic ancestors, but over time, adapted to their conditions. This hypothesis also supports the reason why European’s can present the diversity of pigmentations that are seen in Albinistics, but are not apparent in other ethnicities. What is also supported by this theory is the fact that people with a white pigmentation have a higher rate of cancer than those who are

The introduction of this article consisted of the development of the model for the genetics of eye color by Charles and Gertrude Davenport in 1907. For 100 years this was taught in classrooms all over the world. As time went by scientists discovered that eye color was controlled by genes and pigment, melanin. This melanin is produced by specialized cells called melanocytes. The total amount of melanin is what determines the range of eye color. To present day scientists have identified over 150 genes that influence eye pigmentation. In humans eye color is determined by the amount of light that reflects off the iris. Eight genes have been identified impact eye color.

Within European populations eye colors such as blue, gray, hazel, and green are found at much greater rates than in any other part of the world. The frequency of the trait for light colored eye varies quite a bit with some regions of Europe experiencing levels as low as 50%, and some experiencing levels as high as 80% or greater. Globally however, brown, or black eye color is the more prevalent iris color. This high frequency of dark eye color globally has led many geneticist’s to believe that at one time all humans had the phenotypic trait of brown eye color. They argue that the much higher melanin concentration found in the brown colored iris would have offered our ancestors greater protection from eye diseases such as macular degeneration which can be brought on by an over exposure to UV radiation from the sun, and such protection may well have acted as a selective force favoring brown eye color (Duffy et al., 2007; Sturm and Larsson,

The binding of the melanocortin 1 receptor results in the DNA instruction of the nucleus to produce more melanin in melanosomes. In melanocyte’s cytoplasm, the enzyme tyrosinase is absorbed by the melanosomes that helps convert tyrosine into two types of human melanin (eumelanin and pheomelanin). This in the melanosomes then travel to neighbouring keratinocytes to aid in protection from the UV radiation. (15)

This paper will review about albinism and the genetic causes that susceptibility leading to albinism, as well as the classification of the albinism patients depending on the type of the gene that cause albinism.

William James Mayo once said “The glory of medicine is that it is constantly moving forward, that there is always more to learn. The ills of today do not cloud the horizon of tomorrow, but act as a spur to a greater effort.” Medical advancements have helped us live longer by being able to cure the ills we face. Bioprinting synthetic skin has impacted the way we live by being able to treat skin injuries in many different ways, ability to treat severe burns and benefits synthetic skin has towards cosmetic industry.

The cold winter mornings hinder humans from arising from their comfortable, warm bed. However, the source of light protrudes through the glass window that stimulates humans to awake from their sleep. Once humans slowly remove themselves from their bed, they walk sluggishly to the bathroom and perform their daily morning routines such as washing one’s face with water. Humans observe their appearance from a reflecting surface attached to the wall. After allowing their facial skin to feel healthy and replenished, many humans are haunted by their reflection, particularly their skin imperfections. Many humans who have a prolonged mirror gaze may be distressed about their appearance. Therefore, people resort in applying face products and make-up

The human spectrum explains that human skin color runs on a continuum from dark to light, there are so many different skin tones that overlap. It is arbitrary to divide and categorize people by their skin color. Skin tone is not a good way to group people because skin color does not represent one’s culture and individual identity. Grouping people based on skin tone can lead to preconceived ideas about a person that detract from information that is a true representation of a person’s identity. The website explains human DNA and our molecular makeup, and the variations of DNA in humans everywhere are subsets of Africans genetic variation.

99.9% of the bases in the human genome are remarkably similar; it is the remaining 0.1% of the bases that make an individual unique (Huang, Shu and Cai, 2015). Among this 0.1% of bases, more than 90% are SNPs (FS. Collins, LD Brooks and A.Chakravarti, 1998). Barbujani et al. (1997) estimated that 85% of SNPs are common to all human populations and that only 15% of SNPs are population specific. Huang, Shu and Cai, (2015) found that SNPs could contribute to many different characteristics, including skin colour, eye colour and the risk of diseases among different populations.

This paper analyzes the connection between spectator appraisals of appeal and skin tone, weight, and stature, and gives proof on whether these physical attributes influence the probability that people report unfair treatment in an assortment of settings. African Americans with lighter shading, and white men with darker shading, are evaluated as more appealing, as are taller men and both men and ladies of ordinary weight. Despite the fact that an unlimited writing demonstrates that physical appearance impacts how one is dealt with, there is little proof that apparent oppressive treatment is identified with physical qualities, for example, allure, weight, or tallness. A special case is for African Americans with lighter skin shading who report

According to study.com, “Genotypes determine which characteristics an individual will express, for example: whether they have freckles or not, if they are lactose intolerant, if they have hair on their knuckles or if their eyes will be blue, brown or another color.” As the previous paragraph states skin exposed to radiation from the sun will determine the melatonin splotches or freckles. Alleles in my family have determined this occurrence for myself, my brother and also my son. “If you received one freckle allele and one non-freckle allele, that mixed genotype, “heterozygous,” would be “Ff." In either case your phenotype is "freckled." However, if both parents gave you identical non-freckle alleles, your homozygous genotype would be “ff,” and you would be spotless,” this is explained on

It is often recognized that skin pigment is associated with skin cancer risks as more melanin in the skin can help to protect individuals from sun damage. Though it is less understood, it has also been hypothesized that eye color could have implications about an individual’s susceptibility to skin cancer. This topic will be discussed below in regards to which genes are involved in both eye color and possible skin cancer risks. Furthermore, when it comes to understanding albinism, it important to recognize that not only is skin pigment influenced, but also eye-color and hair-color, thus it becomes apparent that iris pigment