A new development in the area of sunscreen and environmental protection for the skin, which makes interesting reading. Below is an extract from the write-up in Science Daily: (the link to the actual article is at the bottom of the post):
"Why use regular sunscreen when you can apply a DNA film to your skin? Researchers at Binghamton University, State University of New York have developed a coating made out of DNA that gets better at protecting skin from ultraviolet light the more you expose it to the sun, and it also keeps your skin hydrated.
DNA coatings are also hygroscopic, meaning that skin coated with the DNA films can store and hold water much more than uncoated skin. When applied to human skin, they are capable of slowing water evaporation and keeping the tissue hydrated for extended periods of time.
The idea is that, if you use this as a topical cream or sunscreen, the longer that you stay out on the beach, the better it gets at being a sunscreen.
The researchers intend to see next if these materials might be good as a wound covering for hostile environments where you want to be able to see the wound healing without removing the dressing, you want to protect the wound from the sun and you want to keep the wound in a moist environment (which is known to promote faster wound healing rates).
Not only do the researchers think this might have applications for sunscreen and moisturisers directly, but if it's optically transparent and prevents tissue damage from the sun. It is also good at keeping the skin hydrated so this might be potentially exploitable as a wound covering for extreme environments."
Journal Reference:
Alexandria E. Gasperini, Susy Sanchez, Amber L. Doiron, Mark Lyles, Guy K. German. Non-ionising UV light increases the optical density of hygroscopic self assembled DNA crystal films. Scientific Reports, 2017; 7 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-06884-8
Taken from: Binghamton University. (2017, July 26). New DNA sunscreen gets better the longer you wear it. ScienceDaily. Retrieved August 1, 2017 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/07/170726091533.htm