I suppose the article is well-intentioned but in terms of genetic diversity and skin color, the actual history of human evolution on the African continent is fa

I suppose the article is well-intentioned but in terms of genetic diversity and skin color, the actual history of human evolution on the African continent is far more complex than that indicates. There's a fascinating paper using modern DNA methods about this, from 2017, published in Science. It's behind a paywall as is the associated perspective but this is a good discussion with the links: > "Genes responsible for diversity of human skin colors identified" https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/10/171012143324.htm https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/10/171012143324.h... > "Tishkoff noted that the work underscores the diversity of African populations and the lack of support for biological notions of race." > "Many of the genes and new genetic variants we identified to be associated with skin color may never have been found outside of Africa, because they are not as highly variable," Tishkoff said. "There is so much diversity in Africa that's not often appreciated. There's no such thing as an African race. We show that skin color is extremely variable on the African continent and that it is still evolving. Further, in most cases the genetic variants associated with light skin arose in Africa." Basically, in genetics today it's about phylogenetics, which "utilizes cladistic methods to construct phylogenetic trees based directly on morphological and molecular data." From this viewpoint 'African' is not a meaningful group relative to 'Asian' or 'European', which may themselves not be very meaningful groups either, in terms of biological descent and actual genetic relatedness within and without these supposed groups. Another truly fascinating aspect of that study is this suggestion, pigment alteration: > ""Our results suggest there must be some kind of as-yet-uncharacterized form of cross-talk between lysosomes and the melanosomes that make eumelanins," Marks said. "Figuring out how this works might provide new ideas for ways to manipulate skin pigmentation for therapeutic means." Imagine the consternation and issues surrounding the introduction of something like retroviral gene therapy which altered an individual's pigmentation. People who suffered sunburn easily might benefit greatly, but I can imagine certain controversies arising from such technology.