The sun most obviously affects a person externally, which is why we are advised to wear some sort of protection, like sunscreen. Too much sun exposure will age, dry, and wrinkle your skin. We also know that it will make a person more susceptible to skin cancer. However, we had very little knowledge of this process. Now, thanks to researchers from the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland, we have a much better understanding of what occurs internally.
Ultraviolet light from the sun may damage our DNA, as well as break down proteins that may end up damaging the DNA even more. The Swiss researchers used gas-phased peptides that had tyrosine and phenylalanine, which are light-absorbing amino acids found in our bodies. They then exposed these amino acids to ultraviolet light, and used ultraviolet-infrared spectroscopy afterwards to see their structural changes. What they found was that triplet states were formed, which are involved in very harmful chemical reactions. What makes triple states so harmful is that they may transfer energy to an oxygen atom and make a highly reactive singlet oxygen. As a result, they move around the cell and damage the DNA more that what fragmentation of peptides does.
I was drawn to this article because it was directly related to what I learned about quantum numbers in Dr. Fuson's class (specifically the ms quantum number). Because of the electromagnetic theory, a spinning charge makes a magnetic field, which causes the two possible electron spins to be opposite of each other. However, this research shows us that the electron spins can actually point in the same direction. When they point in the same direction it is called a triplet state, and as I've already mentioned the triplet state is caused by that ultraviolet light from the sun. It's fascinating to read that ultraviolet light is powerful enough to defy the magnetic field of a spinning charge. Hopefully this research will allow us to produce better products to protect us from the sun's negative affects.
Submitted by Christopher Castillo
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