A science explainer argues that the warmth felt from sunlight is not a useful gauge of sunburn risk, since heat and UV damage come from different wavelengths acting through different mechanisms. Visible and infrared light warm the skin by exciting molecular vibrations, while UV-B (and some UV-A) causes sunburn by directly damaging DNA, a process that is painless as it happens. The piece notes UV-B is far less intense at ground level than near-infrared light, meaning far less energy is needed to damage DNA than to produce the sensation of heat.
Apple's new vice president of hardware engineering, Tom Marieb, said watching people put screen protectors on iPhones bothers him because of the effort Apple puts into its display glass. He was promoting Ceramic Shield 2, the coating debuted on the iPhone 17 line and now used on the iPhone 18 Pro and the iPhone Duo foldable's outer screen, which Apple says offers triple the scratch resistance of its predecessor while remaining durable over time.
A homeschooled boy in the UK developed erythema ab igne, a lace-like reddish-brown skin rash, after resting his laptop directly on his stomach for up to eight hours a day, often while it charged. Doctors initially suspected bruising before he explained his study habits, leading to the diagnosis. The condition faded and eventually cleared once he stopped placing the device on his skin.
UK physicians Mara Znagoveanu and Edward Artley documented a school-age boy who arrived at the emergency room with a wide, reddish-brown, net-like rash on his abdomen that nurses initially mistook for bruising. After ruling out trauma, illness and organ problems through exams, X-rays and a CT scan, the doctors traced the marks to prolonged, direct skin exposure to heat from a laptop the boy used daily, resulting in a condition known as erythema ab igne, or 'toasted skin syndrome.'
A personal blog entry recounts the author's discovery that entire apples, including cores and stems, can be safely eaten, along with strawberry stems and kiwi skins. The post frames this as a gradual personal realization rather than scientific reporting, noting the writer's initial hesitation before eating a stem.
After 17 years without built-in voice communication for full teams, Riot Games is rolling out team-wide voice chat in League of Legends starting with Patch 26.20. The feature launches first in North America and Oceania, with other regions like Korea, Brazil and Latin America potentially following depending on how the rollout goes. Players need an Honor level of 3 or higher to speak, though anyone can listen, and Riot is also introducing customizable 'voice skins' along with improved noise cancellation and connection stability.
Ecologist Mira Grönroos of the Finnish Environment Institute had participants rub their hands with soil, peat and moss for 20 seconds. Even after washing with tap water, their skin showed a marked increase in the number and variety of microbes, despite looking visibly clean.
AI-powered dermatology tools designed to identify skin conditions like melanoma are becoming more accurate overall, but researchers have found these systems perform less reliably for patients with darker skin. The disparity stems largely from training datasets that contain far fewer images of skin conditions on non-white patients.
Topicals, the skincare brand popular with Gen Z shoppers at Sephora, has named a new chief executive officer to run the company. Founder Olamide Olowe is stepping down from the CEO role, handing leadership to an executive who previously worked at Fenty Beauty.
Scientists in China developed lab-grown muscle tissue, called myografts, that can be injected subcutaneously and form vascularized structures that continuously contract on their own. In mouse studies published in Nature Aging, the grafts improved overall muscle mass, metabolic function and regenerative outcomes in aging and obese animals.
A curated reading list spotlights nonfiction works exploring how cults, scams, and manipulative schemes operate, with particular praise for a book by Amanda that treats cultism as existing on a spectrum rather than a fixed category. The book examines how specific language patterns used by communities and organizations create undue influence over members, extending the analysis beyond traditional cults to startups, skincare brands, and fitness programs.
GoKawiil