BehindTheMedspeak: Prepare to sweat — dark colors block UV rays better than light ones
Long story short: Red and blue fabrics protect better than yellow when it comes to blocking UV-B rays.
Here's Henry Fountain's October 20, 2009 New York Times "Observatory" feature with more.
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Color of Fabric Matters When Protecting Sun From Ultraviolet Rays
It takes more than sunscreen
to keep the sun’s ultraviolet rays from harming your skin. The type of
clothing you wear can offer protection, too — or not. Studies have shown that some lightweight fabrics do not provide enough UV protection.
But it is not just the type of fiber and the weave of the fabric
that matters, but also the color. Ascención Riva of the Polytechnic
University of Catalonia and colleagues have addressed the color issue,
studying the effects of different dyes on the UV protection provided by
lightweight woven cottons.
The researchers chose three fabrics, not dyed, with different
initial levels of UV protection based on the weave and other factors.
Then they dyed them in varying shades of blue, red and yellow and
measured how much UV radiation was absorbed and transmitted.
They found that red and blue shades performed better than yellow,
particularly in blocking UV-B rays, which are the most harmful.
Protection increased as the shades were made darker and more intense.
And if the initial protection level of the fabric was higher, the
darker shades offered even greater improvement.
The researchers say the findings, reported
in Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research, should help fabric
and garment manufacturers optimize their products for UV protection.
Modeling the Effects of Color on the UV Protection Provided by Cotton Woven Fabrics Dyed with Azo Dyestuffs
Color is one of the most influential variables on the protection
against ultraviolet radiation provided by a fabric. The protection
against UV radiation of a fabric is expressed quantitatively by means
of its UPF (ultraviolet protection factor). The present paper shows the
results of a study about the influence of the color on the UPF of
cotton woven fabrics appropriate for summer articles. Through
statistical models, the research seeks to relate the level of
protection achieved in dyeing with three azo dyes to the factors
governing the process, the shade, and the color intensity, as well as
their interaction with the initial UPF of the fabrics. The obtained
models will allow the programming and optimization of the value of the
UPF of a fabric by means of adequate adjustment of the variables.
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No peeking: what country's flag is pictured up top?
"LOMME
(Light Over Matter Mind Evolution) is a unique sleep experience and
rejuvenation environment. Lomme defies definition. It is a piece of
furniture, a work of art and a place to rejuvenate. In its
sophisticated simplicity it evokes feelings of unity and enables the
soul to access the source of its power.
"Created as a result of two years research into sleep habits, problems and therapies, LOMME
skillfully combines natural remedies with cutting edge technology.
Using combined light, sound and massage therapies, LOMME offers an environment
to enhance all the senses, creating a place to rejuvenate, meditate and,
above all, sleep."
Created by 28-year-old Joel Waul from 730,000 industrial-size rubber bands over a five-year period, yesterday it was lifted from its birthplace in Waul's Lauderhill, Florida yard by crane onto a flatbed truck, headed for its new home at a Ripley's museum in Orlando, Florida.
Waul sold the ball to Ripley's Believe it Or Not! for "an undisclosed sum," according to Damien Cave's New York Times story.
Could FlySense be the new new thing? Eichborn Fliegenbanner auf der Frankfurter Buchmesse (Eichborn Fly Banner at the Frankfurt Book Fair)
From blogiversity: "I thought this was pretty interesting — a company at a German trade show
released flies that had little banner advertisements attached to them.
Like they were little miniature planes at the beach or something. I
think it's an interesting idea and definitely will get people doing a
double take.
"I was reading some of the comments on the YouTube
page and people were saying they thought it was cruel to the flies.
Since when do people care about flies? That, and one guy pointed out
they can carry 5 times their body weight so I think they can handle the
little slip of paper."
'Contents of the Dead Man's Pockets' — by Jack Finney
The opening paragraphs follow.
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At the little living-room desk Tom Benecke rolled two sheets of flimsy
and a heavier top sheet, carbon paper sandwiched between them, into his portable. Interoffice
Memo, the top sheet was headed, and he typed tomorrow's date just below this; then he
glanced at a creased yellow sheet, covered with his own handwriting, beside the
typewriter. "Hot in here," he muttered to himself. Then, from the short hallway
at his back, he heard the muffled clang of wire coat hangers in the bedroom closet, and at
this reminder of what his wife was doing he though: Hot, no--guilty conscience.
He got up, shoving his hands into the back pockets of his gray wash
slacks, stepped to the living-room window beside the desk, and stood breathing on the
glass, watching the expanding circlet of mist, staring down through the autumn night at
Lexington Avenue, eleven stories below. He was a tall, lean, dark-haired young man in a
pullover sweater, who looked as though he had played not football, probably, but
basketball in college. Now he placed the heels of his hands against the top edge of the
lower window frame and shoved upward. But as usual the window didn't budge, and he had to
lower his hands and then shoot them hard upward to jolt the window open a few inches. He
dusted his hands, muttering.
But still he didn't begin his work. He crossed the room to the hallway
entrance and, leaning against the doorjamb, hands shoved into his back pockets again, he
called, "Clare?" When his wife answered, he said, "Sure you don't mind
going alone?"
"No." Her voice was muffled, and he knew her head and
shoulders were in the bedroom closet. Then the tap of her high heels sounded on the wood
floor and she appeared at the end of the little hallway, wearing a slip, both hands raised
to one ear, clipping on an earring. She smiled at him--a slender, very pretty girl with
light brown, almost blonde, hair--her prettiness emphasized by the pleasant nature that
showed in her face. "It's just that I hate you to miss this movie; you wanted to see
it too."
