Skin color race a sign of evolution?

Question

Do you think the differences between Asians, Africans, Caucasians are signs of evolution? Are we evolving in separate paths?

Answer 1

Yes, our differences in skin tones is because of evolution.  Ultimately the driving force of evolution is reproductive success and while there is a variance in every population the overall tone will drift to what is best suited for each environment over generations.  As is seen across the globe, there is the general rule that people who live in equatorial regions are darkest and this blends until artic areas are reached where people are the whitest.  Like I said, the reason why this was prehistorically was because of reproductive sucess.  For instance at equatorial areas the harsh uv rays from the sun breakdown certain vitamins and chemicals that are active in the operations in the human body.  As was pointed out earlier one of these is vitamin B, but the most important chemical that is broken down by sunlight as far as reproduction is concerned is folic acid.  Folic acid is crucial to rapid cell development so if an extremely light skinned individuals are habituating in tropical regions the males will experience a reduction in their sperm count, and women would experience more miscarriages because Folic acid is extremely important for foetal development.  Conversly, as was pointed out, dark people habituating in northern hemisphere localities will have a reduced absorption of vitamin d which is also important for foetal development and for general health which would cause a reproductive discrepancy that would cause this darker toned characteristic to have been selected against.  

Another medical condition that is often pointed at in this discussion is cancer, but in fact cancer has very little effect on reproductive sucess because the majority of cancer ocurrs after reproduction, and as of such, would not effect reproductive success in the same way as the previous examples.

Now, earlier I mentioned "in prehistoric times", and that was on purpose.  Our knowledge and technology has already deafeated these prehistoric influences on skin colour from having an effect on reproductive sucess in modern times.  Light toned people living in tropical areas can simply take vitamin b/folic acid supplements as well as use sunscreen to block the intensity of uv in breaking down the chemicals/vitamins that are important for reproduction and dark toned people living in northern environments don't even particularily need to focus on taking supplements because even in the winter, when their vitamin d deficiency should be the worst, the contemporary supermarket is full of imported fresh produce and milk both of which allow an ample offset to any loss of vitamin d that may be experienced.

So into the future this selective pressure will no longer be an issue and if all populations mixed then we would just be a widely varied mix of colour everywhere around the globe that would be primarily brown in tone and there would be no reason for colour to be selected for in either direction so long as darker toned people continued to eat their produce and lighter toned people remembered to take their folic acid and wear sunscreen.

Answer 2

yes it is. people living near the equator developed dark skin to counteract sunlight, because sunlight damages vitamin B complex. people living in the northern lattitudes especially scandinavians developed light skin because there is little sunlight and u have to absorb as much sunlight there is in those regions to process Vitamin D without which u would get bone disease. so  ya.

Answer 3

yeah if your skin is covered in brown fur your probably a monkey

stupid

i hope this helped

mr. jacob feacherson

tissue in box

Answer 4

Apparently not.

ie:Blacks mix with whites and produce a mixed child. This is evident that the human race was not meant to seperate to different paths.

If they were, it would not be possible to reproduce with anyone who is human regardless of color of skin or facial features or hair texture.

It is physically possible to mix and this is proof that nature wants this since

it is happening it is called natural selection.

God ordained this to be.

Answer 5

Yes, I think that the differences between the races indicate signs of differing evolution.  But do I think we're currently evolving in seperate paths? No.  This is because the underlying cause of evolution is environmental pressure that convers the preferential success of one species (or feature) over another.  With the possible exception of people living as they did 100s of years ago in the Steppes of Siberia or fields of Africa, the majority of humans worldwide are living under similar environmental pressure (living indoors, eating processed foods, etc) meaning that despite the differences in the races that we are evolving in the same "path".

Answer 6

yes and no.  Yes is it is a sign of evolution and no we are not evolving separate paths.  In fact we are blending.  There are several forces working on our evolution including the environment, health, and preferences.  The environment favors those that are most suited.  Dark skinned in tropical areas, light skin in cloudy temperate places with lots of mixing in between insuring our  species wont separate.

Answer 7

No.  I think skin color has to do with the area your ancestors inhabited for the longest time in your lineage's history.  Mine are predominately northern European.  I'm without significant pigment coloration because of low light levels in that geographic location.  I blush very easily because my clansmen could then find me in a snowdrift.  [ha, ha]

Answer 8

sorta yea, it has to do with our environment

Answer 9

You can say that. It is a sign of adaption and isolated gene pools. Had these populations remained isolated long enough the species may have eventually diverged.

Answer 10

i think it relates to evolution in a much less complex may than you are probably trying ot figue out. I mean, if you think of our bodies adapting to our habitats, that's really wha it is. People who live around the Mediterrranean have especially oily skin, becasue the salt water from the sea and the sun in that region, Nordic people are fair skinned and light eyed becasue of the lack of sun exposure and th little need their skin needs to protect itself, etc... Over many, many years, people's bodies have gotten accustomed to their surrowndings.

Answer 11

Naah. Its natural selection.