Answers to Questions Kids Ask! - Where "Why?" Turns to "Wow!"
Born on this day
August 25, 20101918 - Leonard Bernstein
1917 - Mel Ferrer
1930 - Sir Sean Connery
1938 - Frederick Forsyth
1942 - Howard Jacobson
1947 - Ann Archer
1949 - Martin Amis
1954 - Elvis Costello
1956 - Matt Aitken
1961 - Billy Ray Cyrus
1970 - Claudia Schiffer
Under your outer layer of skin, there are special cells which make a pigment called melanin. How much melanin there is in your skin determines whether you are light or dark. And a second pigment, carotene, found in your inner layer of skin, determines how yellow your skin tone is. People with light skin have just a little melanin. Darker skin, on the other hand, has much more melanin. How much of any of these pigments you have is, for the most part, determined by the genes you inherit. But even though the skin on the outside maybe different shades of color the skin is all the same.
Link to this question!
What are freckles?
The answer is a simple one. Melanin. Melanin, you know, is the chemical pigment that gives us all our skin color. No matter what the shade of your skin (or…
If you are color-blind does that mean you see things in black and white like those old movies on TV?
Eyes are miraculous contraptions! When light goes through the lens at the front of your eye, it travels back to a projection screen called your retina which is packed tightly…
Why does your hair turn gray when you get older?
It’s hard to imagine that those lovely locks of blond or brunette hair on your head may someday change color so dramatically. But your hair doesn’t turn white from a…
Can two brown-eyed parents can have a blue-eyed child?
Yes, they can, and this actually follows the most simple rules of genetics. Blue eyes are, generally speaking, recessive to brown eyes. Say “B” is a gene for brown pigment…
What makes your hands prune up when soaked in water?
It has to do with the the way your fingers are made. The tips of fingers and toes are covered by a tough, thick layer of skin. When they are…