Most people with pale skin, red hair or freckles know to slather on extra sun block to ward off skin cancer. A trio of new studies reinforces that notion – but also suggests that genes, not pigmentation, may provide the ultimate guide to who is most likely to get skin cancer after sitting in the sun.
Researchers in Iceland and Australia studying thousands of people with melanoma and other skin cancers have pinpointed a gene affecting both a person's skin tone and their chances of getting skin cancer.