Cheddar Man: a Portrait of Britian's First Known Man

In 1903, in Gough’s Cave near the village of Cheddar in Somerset, in southwest England the bones of a 10,000 year old skeleton from the Mesolithic period were found. This skeleton was named Cheddar Man after it's closeness in proximity to the village of Cheddar. Scientists at the Natural History Museum and University College London were able to obtain the DNA of Cheddar Man by drilling a small hole into his skull and collecting the bone powder. By sequencing the DNA from the bone powder the scientists were able to reconstruct  Cheddar Man's face. They discovered that Cheddar Man was dark skinned, dark haired, and had blue eyes.

Cheddar Man's DNA shows that he belonged to a group of Western hunter-gatherers, who first migrated to Europe about 14,000 years ago. 10 percent of British ancestry can be traced back to this particular group. It is currently believed that light skin and dark skin variants arose in Africa 300,000  years ago. Humans first arrived in Europe around 45,000 years ago but the light skinned variant was not brought to Europe until 6,000 years ago. The light skin variant was mostly brought over from people who descended from the near east. The sequencing of Cheddar Man's DNA raises the question of why it took close to 40,000 years for Europeans to make the transition over from darker skin to light? As a person whose heritage is primarily from the British Isles, it makes me wonder why my ancestors skin color changed and could I possibly be related to Cheddar Man?  
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/07/world/europe/uk-cheddar-man-skeleton-skin.html
https://genographic.nationalgeographic.com/human-journey/

Skin Replacement Saves Dying Boy

Scientists altered stem cells to grow skin to help those who have skin disease and those who are burn victims. This was tested on a 7-year-old boy who suffers junctional epidermolysis bullosa, which makes skin so fragile that even simple rubbing can cause the skin to blister or come apart. The Boy had complete epidural loss on majority of his body. He was in so much pain that he was on morphine, and fighting off a staph infection. The doctors gave antibiotics, changed dressings, grafted skin donated by his father. The new study exhibits safety of replacing the entire epidermis using and shows how different types of cells work together to help our skin renew itself. In another article on the NY Times, Other researchers have also tried bone-marrow transplants to correct the genetic flaws in the disease, but several children have died from the side effects of that arduous treatment, and results have been mixed in those who survived. I think it is interesting that there are so many studies going on trying to help those who have skin diseases and those who have been involved in fire. Hopefully the research can continue so those who suffering from epidermolysis bullosa are helped.

Infinite sunscreen made from DNA.

A news article from Popular Science gives credit to a group of scientist in discovering a transforming way to stop skin cancer. Their report is featured in Science Reports and found that DNA crystals helps in absorbing heavy amounts of UV light. This finding could open eyes towards the skincare culture and also the prevention of skin cancer. When DNA film is coated on to the skin, it hydrates skin cells for a very long time by slowing the cell's water evaporation. The sun has exposed human skin to great amounts of carcinogen for awhile which unfortunately leads to massive amounts of skin cancer patients . But Popular Science suggest maybe a sunscreen could be created after all of this. The report give due to the DNA's "optical, novel electrical, and biosensing properties". Could the ending of skin cancer be coming soon? Hopefully a revolutionary sunscreen could be hitting stores in the near future.