Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

New Nanoparticle Sunblock Is Stronger and Safer, Scientists Say

Posted by samzenpus on from the permanent-shade dept.

sciencehabit writes: What's the best sunscreen? It's a question that troubles beachgoers, athletes, and scientists alike. Mark Saltzman, who falls into the last category, was so concerned by the time his third child was born that he wanted to engineer a better sunblock. "The initial goal was to make a sunblock that lasted longer," says Saltzman, a biomedical engineer at Yale University. "But as I read more about sunscreen, I became aware of people's concerns about safety." Now, he and his colleagues have unveiled the results of their research: a nanoparticle-based sunblock, which they say is longer lasting and less likely to leak into the body than traditional sunscreen.

8 of 114 comments (clear)

  1. Nano Zinc Oxide is not new by YesIAmAScript · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It's been around for a while. It has the block power of zinc oxide without being white.

    http://ec.europa.eu/health/sci...

    This article is not clear about which nanoparticles they are using, but we already have effective sunblocks using nanoparticles.

    --
    http://lkml.org/lkml/2005/8/20/95
    1. Re:Nano Zinc Oxide is not new by sexconker · · Score: 3, Funny

      I live in the worst desert on the planet

      Say hello to the penguins for me!

  2. What's wrong with titanium dioxide? by Ihlosi · · Score: 4, Insightful

    What's wrong with titanium dioxide again?

    1. Re:What's wrong with titanium dioxide? by Misagon · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Titanium Dioxide is a common additive as white colouring in foodstuffs such as cookies and candy. For instance, it is sometimes used to make sugar glazing on German lebkuchen cookies whiter.
      In Europe it is often in ingredients lists under the number E-171 rather than its full name.

      Titanium Dioxide is one of the pigments that are suspected of leaking into the body, both from food and from its use in sunscreen.
      Therefore, it is something that I look for and avoid.

      --
      "We mustn't be caught by surprise by our own advancing technology" -- Aldous Huxley
  3. Best sunscreen... by glaciator · · Score: 3, Interesting

    ...is plant fiber, twisted into strings and tightly woven. AKA clothes. White cotton or linen, preferably. Ask the desert people their opinion about nanoparticles.

    1. Re:Best sunscreen... by CastrTroy · · Score: 3, Informative

      Works great at the beach.

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
  4. Re:Toxic by Chrisq · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Aren't nanoparticles toxic?

    Absolutely, just like chemicals are ;-)

  5. Re:Stay out of the sun, or wear clothing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "Little children don't belong in the sun" is just the other side of the "let your kid burn" coin. Both are extremes, and you'd probably be doing your kid better by chilling out a bit. You are likely contributing to chemical imbalances, depression, and/or vitamin D deficiency. You could be making your kid unnaturally paranoid about minor dangers. You could be restricting critical outdoor play time. Please don't take this as insulting your parenting, I know you're doing what you feel is best, it's just that this overprotectiveness is happening more and more lately and in many instances leading to worse problems than they aim to solve (while simultaneously requiring ten times the worry and energy from the parents).

    People need sunlight. On our skin, diffused/reflected into our eyes. It's absolutely necessary. Yeah, too much of it is a bad thing, so don't get too much. But too little is also bad.