Sunscreen in a Pill

Protecting your skin from the sun is important, but putting on sunscreen can be a bother. Your hands get sticky, and you might miss a spot. In a few years, though, this may not be a problem. Scientists at King’s College London are working on a pill that will protect your skin and eyes from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays.

The secret to this new form of sunscreen comes from coral. Some kinds of coral make their own sunscreen to protect themselves from UV rays. This protection is passed on to the fish that eat the algae on the coral. Scientists visited Australia’s Great Barrier Reef to collect coral samples. They hope to copy the coral’s sun-blocking compounds.

There is an even bigger long-term goal for the copied compound. Scientists want to use it to help plants stand strong sun and allow more crops4 to grow in a wider variety of environments. This could be an important step in solving the world’s food supply problems in the future.

吃的防曬品

保護你的皮膚不受陽光傷害是很重要的，但是塗防曬乳又很麻煩。你的手會黏黏的，而且你可能會有地方漏塗。不過，再過幾年，這或許就不是問題了。倫敦國王學院的科學家們正致力於一種能保護你的皮膚和眼睛免受太陽有害紫外線傷害的藥丸。

這種新式防曬品的祕訣來自珊瑚。某些種類的珊瑚會自行製造防曬物質來保護自己，隔離紫外線。這種保護機制傳遞到了食用珊瑚中海藻的魚類身上。科學家們造訪澳洲的大堡礁去採集珊瑚樣本。他們希望複製珊瑚的防曬化合物。

所複製的化合物還有一個更遠大的長期目標。科學家想要利用它來幫助植物抵禦強烈的陽光，並讓更多農作物得以在更為多樣的環境中生長。這對於解決未來世界糧食供應問題可能是重要的一步。