Mondo Knows Facts
Melanin determines skin hair and eye colouration
Specialised melanocyte cells produce pigments that absorb ultraviolet radiation
Melanin is a natural biological pigment produced by melanocytes in skin and hair follicles. Different types and concentrations of melanin determine brown, black, blonde, or red hues in hair, as well as skin tone and eye colour, while shielding cell DNA from harmful UV rays.
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Tags: melanin, pigment, skin
Melanin determines skin hair and eye colouration: the short answers
- Where does this come from, and can I check it?
- Specialised melanocyte cells produce pigments that absorb ultraviolet radiation. The figure is taken from NIH, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
- Is this really a human body fact?
- Yes. It sits on the Human Body shelf, one of 1,090 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
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- The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.