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Are there other human traits like light skin which people developed to adapt to the "new" environment they settled in?

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linucs@lemmy.ml
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askscience@lemmy.world
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I’m referring to the human race evolving in the African continent and then migrating to the rest of the world.

Evolving in Europe made people light skinned to account for the reduction in sunlight exposure, are there any other traits which other ethnicities developed to adapt to their new environment? Or are the diifferent traits in different ethnicities just stuff that developed by chance and got somehow reinforced because of the isolation between populations?

This question came to my mind first thinking about “Asian eyes”, do they serve any “purpose”?

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shalafi@lemmy.world
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Read what turned out to be a fairly racist article back in the day, about the differences in blacks and whites.

One thing that rang true was hair types. When wet, kinky hair sheds heat more easily and flat hair is insulating. Anyone know if this is true?

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Guest_User@lemmy.world
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I learned in a university course that kinky hair holds sweat better and allows for better cooling. Where straight, greasy hair drips it off faster.

Another interesting environmental trait is sickle cell because it can prevent or at least lessen malaria.

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