Navigating Sunscreen Season

Ah, the season of sunscreen struggles is upon us! If you find yourself tirelessly reminding others to lather up under the blazing sun, fear not – you’re not alone in this SPF saga. Many camps and households experience peak sunburn season July-August. This is when the sun’s rays are at their strongest, people are weary of reminding others to wear their hats, and the default response to ‘Do you have sunscreen on?’ is an automatic ‘Yes,’ whether it’s true or not.

Our solution to peak sunburn? Science!

No we aren’t revealing our stealth project creating a completely safe sunscreen that last’s a million hours. (Apply 2-3 times per season!) And the prototype for our instant-apply sunscreen doorway is only working in fantasy land at the moment. However, we do have a roundup of excellent posts, articles, and experiments introducing the science of sun damage and sun protection. With this knowledge, we suspect that your curious and often logical campers may be more than willing to apply another layer of sunscreen.

Explaining the Science of Sunscreen

If you’re looking for a short but packed take on sunscreens, check out these posts, all with a read time under 5 minutes: Harvard Health’s “The Science of Sunscreen”, UChicago Medicine’s “Explaining the Science of Sunscreens”, PBS’s “Just Ask: How does Sunscreen Work”, Edvotek’s “The Dark Side of the Sun”, Edvotek’s “A Brief History of Sunscreen”, and Edvotek’s “Sea Safe Sunscreen”.

For more resources, visit the Skin Cancer Foundation websites.

For a deeper dive into academic literature, try these articles about Sunscreen and Photoprotection and Advances in Sunscreen Research.

If you’re looking for a short video, check out “How Does Sunscreen Work?” by Sciencey.

If you want to scientifically examine some of the recent anti-sunscreen TikTok videos, check out: Glamour’s “TikTok’s Anti-Sunscreen Movement Explained“, Wired’s “The Problem with Sunscreen Isn’t Its Ingredients, It’s You”, and LA Times’ “10 Sunscreen Myths You Can’t Afford to Fall For”

Finally, for inspiration, learn about Human Bekele, the 14-year-old scientist who developed a soap that can help combat skin cancer. You can read more in this USA Today article or this Washington Post article or watch this PBS news video or this Fox 5 news video.

Experimenting with Sunscreens

To kick things into high gear and turn your reluctant appliers into sunscreen experts and explorers (and regular users) consider conducting a UV experiment. For those with a physics bent and access to a UV meter, check out this experiment on Science Buddies. If you lean more towards biology and biotechnology, and have access to a horizontal electrophoresis chamber, explore our experiment Blinded by the Light.

In this experiment, students directly observe the effects of UV light on DNA and the impact of different types of sunscreen. They’ll investigate sunscreens, brainstorm an experimental design, and conduct a time series test comparing UV-exposed plasmid samples using electrophoresis. This is one of our favorite experiments for summer because (1) it has a strong inquiry component, (2) students learn about and demonstrate the power of sunscreen, and (3) the exposure steps, while possible to do indoors with a UV transilluminator, are best done in the summer sun. If your participating in this year’s Camp Edvotek this experiment is also a great way to get the DNA badge!

So, as we dive into the peak sun (and sunburn) season, let’s harness the power of science and sunscreens. and make this summer a safe and sunny experimental adventure.