The next time you talk a walk outside, you might want to think twice and apply some sunblock lotion. Genetically speaking, people who are actively standing under the sun have a higher chance of getting skin cancer. Why is this? Mutation rates occur much more quickly than people who don't stand under the sun for too long. These mutations are caused by UV rays that are emitted from the sun and penetrate the skin. Our skin then receives signals and send them to receptors in our skin cells and that initiates a cascade of reactions. In this case, the reaction results in the production of melanin. Melanin is the pigment that is causes skin to become darker.

But looking a into the molecular level, our genome has the genetic information that codes for skin replication. Every single time our skin replicates there are more mutations that accumulate. How does this relate to skin color? Well if we compare the darker individual and a lighter individual who both spent an equal amount of time under the sun, we will expect the lighter individual to get skin burned or tanned much quicker than the darker individual. In fact, when the skin cells have to replicate over and over to get to the darker colored skin that causes an accumulation of mutation to occur over the specific amount of time.

Not only can the skin mutate and cause skin cancer, but UV radiation can also trigger other pathways of obtaining skin cancer. Another pathway of obtaining skin cancer is by having UV radiation mutate the foundation of the human genome and if the correcting machinery cannot correct the mutated information then the cell replicates and causes the cell to enter apoptosis which is cell death. Some mutations can even get worse at the later stages when one cell death spreads to other parts of the body. This is mainly caused by the recessive mutations that become manifested into broken cell machinery. The worse case scenario is to have broken cell machinery that cannot correct any of the mutations that are accumulating when the cell replicates.

Although cancer is partially genetic and partially lifestyle, a lot can be done to prevent this from occurring. First and most importantly, everyone should go visit their doctors for a routinely checkup and information about cancer and preventing it. Secondly, it never hurts to spend less than $10 to prevent yourself from skin damage and skin cancer. Lastly, it is always good to update yourself with the latest cancer research to help others and the community at large.