RED hair, freckles and pale skin make you sun sensitive, but genes, not pigmentation, may be the ultimate guide to who is most likely to get skin cancer after sitting in the sun.
Genes for light hair and skin and the risk of skin cancer tend to go hand in hand. For instance, the same mutations in a gene called MC1R that cause red hair and freckles also greatly increase the chances of getting melanoma if you sunbathe. But not all such genes are equally affected by sunlight.
Researchers led by KarĂ Stefánnson of Decode Genetics in Reykjavik, Iceland, have…
