Mouse hair turns gray when certain stem cells get stuck

Pigment-producing stem cells must keep moving and changing to give hair its natural color

An overhead photo of a mouse with gray hair on a light blue background.

Prematurely gray mice (like this one shown from earlier research) can help reveal why hair changes color.

M.L. Harris et al/PLOS Biology 2018

Hair might go gray when stem cells with wanderlust have their travels interrupted.