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Joan Cartan-Hansen, Host: Your 
skin is your body's largest

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organ.

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An adult has about 21 square 
feet of skin.

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Combined, your skin weights 
about nine pounds and has 11

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miles of blood vessels.

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Every day you shed dead skin 
cells.

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How many?

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Well, you lose between 30 
thousand and 40 thousand dead

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skin cells every minute of every 
day.

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That adds up to nine pounds of 
skin loss every year.

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But don't worry, your skin 
constantly replaces itself.

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And it's melanin that gives your 
skin its color.

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If your ancestors are from a 
warmer part of the world, you

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are likely to produce more 
melanin And have darker skin.

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If your ancestors are from a 
colder part of the world, you

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probably produce less melanin 
and have lighter skin.

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Freckles are just dots of 
melanin.

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Melanin is also what gives you 
your eye color.

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A little melanin means blue 
eyes.

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Some melanin means green or 
light brown eyes and lots of

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melanin results in dark brown 
eyes.

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No matter its color, skin is 
something we all have in common.

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For more information about skin, 
check out the science trek

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website.

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You'll find it at science trek