Maps © George Chaplin
Research on the evolution of skin color in humans was avoided by scientists for many years. Skin color is worthy of scientific investigation, however, because it is the product of over five million years of evolution in the human lineage, it the most obvious characteristic in which people vary in their appearance, and it is of great social importance. My research on the evolution of human skin and skin color, done mostly in collaboration with George Chaplin, has demonstrated that skin color is the product of natural selection acting to regulate levels of melanin pigment in the skin relative to levels of ultraviolet radiation (UVR) in the environment. Melanin is a natural sunscreen that prevents the breakdown of certain essential biomolecules (in particular, the B vitamin folate, and DNA), while permitting enough UVR to enter the skin to promote the production of essential vitamin D.
Selected Publications
Jablonski, N.G. (2021). The evolution of human skin pigmentation involved the interactions of genetic, environmental, and cultural variables. Pigment Cell and Melanoma Research, 34(4), 707-729. doi:10.1111/pcmr.12976
Jablonski, N. G. (2021). Skin color and race. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 175(2), 437-447. doi:10.1002/ajpa.24200
Wolf, S. T., Jablonski, N. G., Ferguson, S. B., Alexander, L. M., & Kenney, W. L. (2020). Four weeks of vitamin D supplementation improves nitric oxide-mediated microvascular function in college-aged African Americans. American Journal of Physiology-Heart and Circulatory Physiology, 319(4), H906-H914. doi:10.1152/ajpheart.00631.2020
Passeron, T., Bouillon, R., Callender, V., Cestari, T. L., Diepgen, T., Green, A. C., . . . Young, A. R. (2019). Sunscreen photoprotection and vitamin D status. British Journal of Dermatology, 181(5), 916-931. doi:10.1111/bjd.17992
Quillen, E. E., Norton, H. L., Parra, E. J., Lona-Durazo, F., Ang, K. C., Illiescu, F. M., . . . Jablonski, N. G. (2019). Shades of complexity: New perspectives on the evolution and genetic architecture of human skin. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 168(S67), 4-26. doi:10.1002/ajpa.23737
Chen, H.-Y., Yarnal, C., Chick, G., & Jablonski, N. G. (2018). Egg white or sun-kissed: A cross-cultural exploration of skin color and women’s leisure behavior. Sex Roles, 78, 255-271. doi:10.1007/s11199-017-0785-4
Jablonski, N. G., & Chaplin, G. (2018). The roles of vitamin D and cutaneous vitamin D production in human evolution and health. International Journal of Paleopathology, 23, 54-59. doi:10.1016/j.ijpp.2018.01.005
Wolf, S. T., Stanhewicz, A. E., Jablonski, N. G., & Kenney, W. L. (2018). Acute ultraviolet radiation exposure attenuates nitric oxide-mediated vasodilation in the cutaneous microvasculature of healthy humans. Journal of Applied Physiology, 125(4), 1232-1237. doi:10.1152/japplphysiol.00501.2018
Cuthill, I. C., Allen, W. L., Arbuckle, K., Caspers, B., Chaplin, G., Hauber, M. E., Hill, G. E., Jablonski, N. G., . . . Caro, T. (2017). The biology of color. Science, 357(6350). doi:10.1126/science.aan0221
Coussens, A. K., Naude, C. E., Goliath, R., Chaplin, G., Wilkinson, R. J., & Jablonski, N. G. (2015). High-dose vitamin D3 reduces deficiency caused by low UVB exposure and limits HIV-1 replication in urban Southern Africans. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 112(26), 8052-8057. doi:10.1073/pnas.1500909112
Jablonski, N. G. (2014). Is there a golden mean for sun exposure? Journal of Internal Medicine, 276 (1), 71-73. doi:10.1111/joim.12248
Jablonski, N. G., & Chaplin, G. (2014). The evolution of skin pigmentation and hair texture in people of African ancestry. Dermatologic Clinics, 32(2), 113-121. doi:10.1016/j.det.2013.11.003
Chaplin, G., & Jablonski, N. G. (2013). The human environment and the vitamin D compromise: Scotland as a case study in human biocultural adaptation and disease susceptibility. Human Biology, 85(4), 529-552. doi:10.3378/027.085.0402
Jablonski, N. G. (2012). The evolution of human skin colouration and its relevance to health in the modern world. Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, 42(1), 58-63. doi:10.4997/JRCPE.2012.114
Jablonski, N. G., and Chaplin, G. (2012). Human skin pigmentation, migration and disease susceptibility. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 367(1590), 785-792. doi:10.1098/rstb.2011.0308
Chaplin, G., & Jablonski, N. G. (2009). Vitamin D and the evolution of human depigmentation. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 139(4), 451-461. doi:10.1002/ajpa.21079
Jablonski, N. G. (2004). The evolution of human skin and skin color. Annual Review of Anthropology, 33, 585-623. doi:10.1146/annurev.anthro.33.070203.143955
Jablonski, N. G., & Chaplin, G. (2000). The evolution of human skin coloration. Journal of Human Evolution, 39(1), 57-106. doi:10.1006/jhev.2000.0403