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The Surprising Cellular Benefit of the Pigment Behind Red Hair

Reported bySciTechDaily ↗·Sourced by Goodlede

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Experiments in 65 zebra finches revealed that pheomelanin, the orange-red pigment in human red hair and bird feathers, helps cells manage excess cysteine by converting it to inert pigment, protecting against oxidative damage and potentially explaining why this melanoma-linked trait persists evolutionarily.

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