3 ms·

Is there any basis to this theory, at all, in science?

• BTCOG 5y ago
  Of course there is. It's called acclimatization to UV. Humans, plants, animals are all living beings exposed to solar radiation.
  • asdff 5y ago
    There is no fitness advantage to being resistant to UV rays. natural selection isn't about you living a long and happy life. It's about you living long enough to breed and rear offspring and whatever happens afterwards doesn't really matter, as it's not selected for. Humans are fertile in 15 years. You can get skin cancer and still make successful progeny.
• asdff 5y ago
  Bob marley died of skin cancer, and he was certainly tan. There is a documented difference between caucasians and other races with skin cancer rates: "[skin cancer] represents ~ 35–45% of all neoplasms in Caucasians, 4–5% in Hispanics, 2–4% in Asians, and 1–2% in Blacks." What strikes me about this is that it's only caucasians that have elevated rates here. Many asians are light skinned but score similarly here to blacks. While it is tempting to conclude melanin offers protection and that is one theory laid out in this paper, I think there are confounding variables here that elevate the risk among caucasion populations relative to Asian populations that have about the same skin tones. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2757062/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2757062/