Don't be stupid.

I don't have any new exciting stories to regale you with (I know, you're surprised. Because I am usually SO EXCITING but alas, not this week). I just wanted to share something I'm investigating that is based on a facebook comment a friend's father (I think) made. So this post is pretty much entirely a Chemistry Fun Fact. You're welcome.

The conversation stemmed from a discussion about how bad fake baking is for you (fake baking, fake tanning, laying in tanning beds, voluntarily giving yourself skin cancer, whatever you prefer to call it). Seriously kids, studies have proved fake baking increases your chances of getting skin cancer by 75%. That's huge. That's like saying "Why yes, I would like a side of cancer with my tanning lotion" every time you go. So one friend suggested spray tanning instead, which I have done before. And I looked HILARIOUS. Seriously, gingers aren't meant to be tan, I even have photographic proof, but now that I looked at it, the picture doesn't really do justice how absurd I looked. Embrace your inner pale, my fellow gingers, cause trust me, you look totes ridic.

Also, downside of spray tanning, that shit gets on EVERYTHING. Your sheets, your clothes, it rubs off on everything. I think I recall it washing out...mostly. So consider yourself warned.

But someone joked that spray tanning probably has crap in it that causes cancer. Which I have no idea if that's true, but it might be, because goodness knows everything causes cancer anymore. Which as Tanner (my fiance) pointed out once, is simply because humans live so much longer than we used to, and cancer cells are cells that have gone rogue essentially. Meaning they've mutated themselves in to something bad, which requires time. We used to live to say...30ish. Now most of us see our 80's. So that's a partial explanation. Along with all the chemicals and crap that are all around us nowadays. And other reasons I am sure, I am no expert.

Anywho, someone else then commented that they are concerned about the nanoparticles used in sunscreen. I've heard about people being concerned about this before also. The main component of suncreen that protects you from the sun is zinc oxide or titanium oxide, because they create free radicals which I think I have explained in a previous blog entry (ha, learning!) but basically they block UV rays. That's the take home message. Sunscreen didn't use to always rub on to be clear either, because of how big the zinc oxide or what have you particles were. But if you shrink them down to nanosize (super eensy weensy, like 100,000 x smaller than a human hair) they rub on clear as well as are better absorbed by your skin, and provide better protection.

So a concern, which could be legitimate, is whether or not these nanoparticles are harmful for us. I did some googling, because Lord Google doth know all. Not really, but it's hella useful, and I read some reviews of studies, nothing too in depth because that'd be like real research, and doing research is for losers.

Ahem.

So I read a few things that talk about studies that have been done. In one of which they used a different metal and they tested it on mice. That...doesn't sound particularly accurate to me. In others they had trouble determining whether it was the nanoparticles that actually made it through to living cells or if it was soluble zinc ions (there is a difference) so that's a major deficiency in that study, since the question is: is the zinc oxide nano particle getting through to live tissue or not? Most studies that have focused on this have determined that the nanoparticles do not make it through to living cells, meaning they sit on all those dead skin cells that sit on the surface of our skin, which is our first layer of protection. This means you wash them off, or sweat them off, or they just wear off.

Another study, which amused me, studied the effect of the particles in the colon. Think about how they have to get to the colon....yeah you'd have to EAT YOUR SUNSCREEN. So don't stick sunscreen up your nose, or in your mouth, and if you use it on your lips don't lick it off (I know, "but it's so tasty!" you say, do try and resist). It also said the quantity you'd have to eat is 2 grams in order to reach toxic levels in your colon. That's a lot of sunscreen. That's like...taking a shot of sunscreen. I feel ill thinking about that. You don't eat other things you apply to your skin, like make up or lotions or nail polish remover, or even things you use in your mouth, like toothpaste, for similar reasons, they're bad for your insides.

So basically, don't be stupid and eat your sunscreen. And if you have a paste eating child, keep them away from your sunscreen. Use your sunscreen properly, and you should be fine. Yay for being pale! Power to the pale people! Everyone hug a ginger!

One year (+) later...

Holy shiz I forgot this thing existed. Ha, woops. I think there might be only one upset person about this. He knows who he is (btw, how's Vegas?). Let's have a brief rundown of what happened since my last post:

I went to Auburn. For one semester. I then transferred to University of Cincinnati to be close to my parents and be close to...



...my fiance. Weird, right? Some whackadoo wants to marry this! My favorite joke now every time I do something gross or unladylike (like burp, I'm good at burping) is go "oh yeah, a life time of this" and gesture sexually to myself. No worries, he's an engineer. We're effectively squaring the nerdiness in my life (what if we have children?! Our relationship will require a power law!).

The giant bunny and beloved house pet passed away in June 2010, he pulled a suitcase down on top of himself and pretty much killed himself instantly. It was awful. Also, bunnies are not smart.

Polo sold! He now lives happily in Auburn, Alabama in a large field in the sun. He's super duper sunbleached. It's the latest look, all the coolest horses are doing it.

Lemony is still with me, she is in Cincinnati, in fact I ought to get off my lazy ass and go ride here shortly. She is 18 years old and still jumping and dragging me around the arena at times. She is currently fuzzy as all get out, she grew her winter coat essentially overnight. She looks even more stuffed animal like than usual.

I'm now doing a Masters instead of PhD. Did you know PhD's take FOEVA to finish? Because they do. I don't want to be in school until I'm 30. Also to be honest in engineering I don't think there is much of a difference between PhD's and Masters except for the # of years you permit yourself to be subjected to the mental anguish of graduate school also known as limbo between college and the adult world (sure sure PhD's have more insight and detailed knowledge of their project, but seriously, it's just a # of years suffering in a lab). What am I doing? What the hell is my project really? Why am I here when I could get paid 3-4x my stipend with a real job? Why am I the only American girl in this entire program? Why won't that one professor believe me when I say I'm a graduate student, after asking me the same question 4 or 5 times? Why does this campus's food choices suck? Would it be so hard to have a Wendy's? The list of hard pressing, important questions goes on.

But I think I'm on track to finish in the spring or at the latest the summer. Currently my work is titled "Conjugation of HER2 Monoclonal Antibodies to PEG-PLGA Nanoparticles". Yep. Doesn't make much sense to me most of the time either. It's for drug delivery stuff, like...targeted drug delivery towards the treatment of cancer, specifically breast cancer. Sounds way cool, right? Totes would be if ANY OF MY LAB WORK WORKED EVER. Ahem. In fairness a few small parts of it do. Just not any of the new, novel parts that would be publishable. Wah.

On a different note, I get to plan my wedding, set for November of 2012. I LOVE PLANNING THINGS. This is like, the planner's dream. SO MANY THINGS TO ORGANIZE AND PLAN (insert maniacal laughter here). So far it's been fun. I'll let you know when it gets stressful and I have to sacrifice a bridesmaid for the greater good. The day will come, I am sure.

Chemistry fun fact of the day: Chocolate milk. Do you like chocolate milk? I think it's gross to be honest. I'm also the weirdo that refuses to drink the milk from my cereal bowl because it's all sweetened and whatnot from the cereal. Nasty. But do you make your chocolate milk yourself or do you buy the big jugs of it, because those big jugs of it kind of gross me out. Here's why: when milk doesn't sell and it reaches its sell-by date, it gets sent back to the manufacturer. Where they repasturize it and then add the chocolate flavoring to mask the fact that it's now much thicker than it was and would taste funny as just regular milk. Basically they kill all the stuff that's grown inside it that's now bad for you...but leave it there. So they cover up the funky taste with chocolate. Gross. I would suggest buying Hershey's syrup for your chocolate milk desires in the future, mostly because that grosses me out. Also, bonus, this can be added to ice cream for extra chocolate-y deliciousness. Or squirted on to various body parts during...wait wrong blog.

My latest picture of Lemony, the best pony ever: