Michael Jackson had a skin disorder called Vitiligo. It is a chronic disorder that causes pigment loss in patches of the skin. In terms of its biology, it occurs when the melanin pigment-producing cells called melanocytes die are not able to function properly.

There is evidence to suggest that it is triggered as an event by a combination of immune, environmental and cellular development factors.

It is genetically inherited. The worldwide incidence of Vitiligo is between 1 to 2 per cent.

Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection has been described as perhaps the most radical scientific theory ever proposed. For atheists such as Richard Dawkins it is the ‘universal acid’ which eats away the traditional view that the world was designed by God, with humans playing a key role in the cosmic drama. Those who want to preserve the traditional values naturally react very strongly, and the fulminations of modern Creationists continue the hostility expressed by many conservative thinkers in Darwin’s own time.

Darwin, writing from the Cape on 3 June, 1836 to his sister Catherine, looked forward expectantly to the next day: "Tomorrow morning I am going to call with Capt. F[itz] R[oy] on the Sir J. Herschel. I have already seen the house which he has purchased; it is six miles from the town & in a most retired charming situation. I have heard so much about his eccentric but very amiable manners, that I have a high curiosity to see the great Man" .

John Herschel and his family had arrived at the Cape of Good Hope in January 1834 with plans for John to sweep the southern sky to catalogue all of objects of interest, just as he and his father, William Herschel, had done for the northern sky . John Herschel was at that time the best known astronomer in Europe and carried the family name of the man who had become famous for his discovery of the planet Uranus in 1781. John was midway through his sojourn at the Cape and had expanded his interests to include the Cape flora, amassing a collection of bulbs that he planted in systematic order in the garden at his estate of Feldhausen.