Individuals who reside in the United Kingdom have higher levels of DNA damage to their facial skin compared with the skin of individuals who reside in Singapore, according to a new study published by King et al in Nature Genetics. Investigators explained that although the UK receives up to threefold lower levels of ultraviolet (UV) radiation than Singapore, individuals living in the UK experience a 17-fold higher incidence rate of basal and squamous cell carcinomas than Singaporean residents. After analyzing the somatic mutational landscape of facial skin using tissue samples from 400 aging patients from both countries, investigators discovered that patients from the UK had a fourfold greater DNA mutational burden—particularly, they noted an Increased presence of TP53 mutations—compared with patients from Singapore. Further, patients from the UK were more likely to develop basal and squamous cell carcinomas as a result of DNA mutations, whereas those from Singapore were more likely to develop the diseases as part of the normal aging process. In a companion press release on the findings from the Wellcome Sanger Institute, the study authors concluded: “We hope our study encourages others to look at further diverse populations … for clues [of] how we can better prevent [keratinocyte] cancers.”