Sun 101 Blog

Human Behavior & the Sun

Most of us are not biologically suited to survive a summer in central or southern Arizona without major technological assistance. We adapt to the heat by turning our thermostats to “winter,” and we manage our lack of surface water by damming and diverting water from the north, pumping groundwater, and drinking bottled water from Fiji. […]

How to Prevent Sunburn and Why We Care

Many of us have been sunburned. Sunburn is bad. To be honest, there isn’t much new to say about why bad sunburn is for our skin, so let’s review what we already know. Sunburned skin is damaged skin. Multiple blistering sunburns increase the risk of developing melanoma. Melanoma is responsible for most skin cancer deaths. […]

Decoding SPF Numbers: is Bigger Better?

A question we hear a lot is, “I’ve heard there isn’t much difference between the protection provided by an SPF 15 sunscreen and an SPF 100 sunscreen. Is this true?” This question is important, because sunscreen is an important tool in skin cancer prevention, and we need all the protection we can get here in […]