The recent MBE Review on the evolution of dark skin in humans is the focus of January's Highlight.

Highlight: Dark skin and cancer suppression in humans—an evolutionary spandrel?
🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msag012

#evobio #molbio

@simonokholm.bsky.social et al. examine the skin cancer hypothesis for the evolution of dark skin in early humans, arguing that protective effects were likely selected to mitigate other UV-related risks, rather than skin cancer.

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msaf306

#evobio #molbio #humanevolution

My first paper on cancer an evolution i out in Molecular Biology and Evolution, @molbioevol.bsky.social. We retest the skin cancer hypothesis for dark skin evolution in ancestral humans, using migration-related mismatch and find acute UV-related risks likely drove selection doi.org/10.1093/molb...