Human body is very sensitive and vulnerable. It is and has always been an easy target for an arrow, a sword or a bullet. In all the times people tried to protect their bodies as well as possible: medieval knights had iron armor; nowadays policemen use more effective protection flak jackets – to survive in the battle with evil.
It goes without saying that we should value these mankind inventions; at the same time, we must never forget about what nature supplied us with to resist the undesirable and dangerous influence of the environment. Skin is what I mean.
Though it cannot protect us from a sword or a bullet, it has always been a very effective means of defense against ultraviolet rays, heat, cold, viruses and bacteria, which constantly try to make our bodies their home for some time, and then to gradually destroy them.
Besides, skin is a multifunctional component of the human body. Thermoregulation helps us adjust to the temperature of the environment due to the widening or narrowing of blood vessels and the secretion of more or less liquids by skins glands. Metabolic function is realized during the gas exchange, water-salt metabolism, etc. After...