The green or gold leaf hostas including the variegated forms of these colored leaf perennials are a slugs idea of smorgasbord delights. The waxy coated leaves of this blue hosta are plants that slugs donât like to eat.
Skin pigmentation. Melanin, whose primary function is in pigmentation, has many more important functions to perform in the human body. Protection from UV radiation. Melanin functions as a sunscreen and as a broad spectrum sun radiation absorbent. The absorbed energy causes redox reactions, and both eumelanin and pheomelanin form free radical species. Eumelanin, being more photostable scavenges the originated oxidative species and neutralizes them.
At the bottom of the basal layers of our skin we have these cells call melanocytes. These cells are responsible for the production of melanin through a process called melanogenesis. Melanin is the pigment that gives our skin, eyes and hair its color[1]. It is also one of the several skin chromophores our skin supports. Chromophores are molecules that absorb light. In doing so, they impart a specific color. ( we will discuss light absorption and color in another science post).