Skin cancer risk may have driven evolution of black skin

Early humans may have evolved black skin to protect against a very high risk of dying from ultraviolet light-induced skin cancer, a new analysis concludes. Skin cancer has usually been rejected as the most likely selective pressure for the development of black skin because of a belief that it is only rarely fatal at ages young enough to affect reproduction. But a new paper cites evidence that black people with albinism from parts of Africa with the highest UV radiation exposure, and where humans...