• Question: Why does are skin react from the sun?

    Asked by to Amar, Matt on 21 Mar 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Amar Joshi

      Amar Joshi answered on 21 Mar 2014:

      Hi Undertaker,

      You might have noticed that people who live in hotter parts of the world have darker hair and skin. Both of these act as sun protection. The power full suns rays can damage cells or cause cancer by damaging the DNA in those cells.

      Dark hair stops the sun’s rays. In skin, special cells produce a pigment – melanin – which is made in response to mild damage from exposure to the sun. To much exposure to the sun can cause DNA damage and cancer which is why it is important to apply sun-cream or cover your skin in hot sunny weather.

    • Photo: Matthew Lam

      Matthew Lam answered on 21 Mar 2014:

      Sunlight comes down to Earth as UV-rays. These UV-rays are radiation and are so powerful that even though they travel millions of miles to get to Earth they are still powerful enough to burn your skin. Sunburn is what we get when we stand too long in the sun and its caused by radiation burn from the Sun’s UV rays.

      These UV-rays are also very dangerous because they can penetrate inside your cells and damage DNA. Damage to your DNA can cause mutations to genes which can cause cancer.

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