Tattoo Tuesday

Nine.com (Au), Scientists develop tattoos you can turn on and off

A new study in Cell Press journal Matter and Light reveals the new inks could help people conceal their tattoos when they feel the need, such as for a job interview. 

“Tattooing is a very ancient technology that remains mostly untapped as a platform for today’s technologies,” lead author Carson Bruns of the University of Colorado said.

The new inks, known as PhotoTat, are made from dyes and a plexiglass-like material common in many medical technologies on the market today, including dermal fillers.

The research is a passion project for Bruns, who has a lot of his own tattoos, including a green lion on his arm. “I love body art because of how personal it is,” he says.

Tuesday Tanlines

Even though it's Wednesday.

Psychology Today Do UV Tanning Beds Really Prolong Lifespan? "Beware of wild media extrapolations of scientific research reports."

The Daily Telegraph article reports on a recent scientific paper published by researchers from the University of Edinburgh. The paper concludes that outdoor exposure to higher levels of natural ultraviolet light in sunlight, and the use of indoor ultraviolet tanning beds, are associated with reduced mortality from heart disease and cancer.

The fundamental flaw in this conclusion is that sunlight is comprised of a broad spectrum of light, including invisible ultraviolet, all the spectral color wavelengths of visible light, and invisible infrared light. Sun-seeking behaviors such as spending more time outdoors, or living in lower latitudes, increase exposure to all of these spectral wavelengths, not just ultraviolet light.

So, to claim these effects are due specifically to the exposure to the ultraviolet short wavelengths in sunlight is overreaching. The authors could have just as easily concluded that the effects were due to green or orange wavelengths, which are also increased in intensity in people with sun-seeking behaviors.

How can the reported reduced cancer and heart disease mortality in indoor tanning bed users be explained? Does that indicate, as the authors suggest, that the ultraviolet component of the solar spectrum is responsible for the increased lifespan?

There is another, much more likely, explanation. It is well established that ultraviolet tanning bed users are also the most active sunseekers. They spend more time outdoors in sunlight, have more outdoor hobbies, and suffer more sunburns than people who never use tanning beds. So, in other words, these sunbed users are more exposed to all the visible and non-visible wavelengths in sunlight—and not just ultraviolet light.

Wow, confounding factors and unintended consequences. Whoda thunk!

The Wombat has Rule 5 Sunday: Enthusiasm! ready and waiting at The Other McCain.

Tuesday Tanlines

WaPoo, What to know about teens, tanning and the UV index. "In videos dating back to at least 2022, many with over 100,000 likes, young women in bikinis seek out UV indexes of 6 and above for tanning."

The term “UV index” is not top of mind for most of us — unless, that is, you’re a tween or teen girl in 2024. On TikTok, nearly a quarter-million posts use the tag #uv. In many cases, these videos refer to the UV index, a shorthand for a measure of how intense ultraviolet radiation is at a given location. In video after video dating back to at least 2022, many with over 100,000 likes, young women in bikinis seek out UV indexes of 6 and above for tanning. 

The problem is that the UV index wasn’t invented for peak tanning, but rather to tell us when not to go into the sun.

“The fact that they’re looking for the spike is exactly the opposite of what it was originally meant for,” said Morgan Rabach, an assistant clinical professor of dermatology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. “This is dangerous behavior.”

Kids these days. . . 

The Wombat has Rule 5 Sunday: Welcome, Indiana! up at The Other McCain.

This Is Why I Have a Beard!

I just found out...

Beards Can Prevent Skin Cancer

VIRGINIA CITY, Nev. (CBS Las Vegas) – Last October, the town of Virginia City, Nev., was named the most bearded community in the entire United States.

And if a new study is to be believed, then Virginia City may also be one of the healthiest towns around.

According to researchers at the University of Southern Queensland in Australia, beards serve a purpose far beyond making a fashion statement – they can prevent skin cancer.

The website New Now Next is reporting that beards block 90 to 95 percent of all ultraviolet rays from making contact with facial skin.

Researchers reportedly left several mannequins in the sun – some with beards, and some without. Those with the beards reportedly fared far better in the blistering sunshine than those without.

The beard benefits don’t stop there, however – they can also catch allergy-inducing pollens and dust. And the website reported that shaving could lead to detrimental effects such as acne, ingrown hairs and bacterial infection.

The study was published in the journal Radiation Protection Dosimetry Journal, New Now Next learned.

Of course, this was not a study of cancer at all, simply a study of  UV light penetration of hair. which was pretty obvious without even breaking out the pyranometer.  Everything else is extrapolation and speculation.

Still, though, now that "science" has "proved" that beards save lives, we must mandate beards, even for women and children!  If I'm going to pay for someone else's health care, and they don't have a potentially life saving beard, and I do, then they're cheating me!  I'll permit the supermodel exception, however.

Besides, if it saves only one life...