Oh, sunscreen, the bane of my summer existence. For me it’s like using condoms: annoying and inconvenient, but by golly, it has to be done.

And unless you like your skin done up like chicken-fried steak, you’d better pay attention to sunscreens that work. The Environmental Working Group (EWG) tested over 1,600 different sunscreens and found that only about 5% of those had safe, non-toxic ingredients and actually protected your skin.

Almost half of the sunscreens tested contain …

Tags: EWG , skin , study , sun , sun exposure , sunblock , sunscreen

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Wanna rub yourself down in hippo sweat? Well, me neither, but there is something fascinating about the aforementioned fluid: it may be synthesized and used as sunblock.

Hippos exude an oily secretion that contains light-scattering crystalline structures, and this is what keeps them from getting burned in the unrelenting African sun. Making use of nature’s knowledge in a science known as biomimicry, researchers are trying to figure out how to replicate this substance into a form appropriate for humans. Pretty amazing if you ask me. Just so …

Tags: biomimicry , hippo , science , secretion , skincare , sun , sunblock , sweat

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