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

organ.

An adult has about 21 square
feet of skin.

Combined, your skin weights
about nine pounds and has 11

miles of blood vessels.

Every day you shed dead skin
cells.

How many?

Well, you lose between 30
thousand and 40 thousand dead

skin cells every minute of every
day.

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

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

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

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

are likely to produce more
melanin And have darker skin.

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

probably produce less melanin
and have lighter skin.

Freckles are just dots of
melanin.

Melanin is also what gives you
your eye color.

A little melanin means blue
eyes.

Some melanin means green or
light brown eyes and lots of

melanin results in dark brown
eyes.

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

For more information about skin,
check out the science trek

website.

You'll find it at science trek