DNA Produces Its Own "Sunscreen".(Brief Article)

Publication: USA Today (Magazine)

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COPYRIGHT 2001 Society for the Advancement of Education

Researchers at Ohio State University, Columbus, have glimpsed for the first time how DNA protects itself from the sun's harmful radiation. Through a natural process that lasts less than one-trillionth of a second, light-absorbing parts of DNA convert ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun into heat. The speed of this process is the key to DNA's natural ability to protect itself from the sun's radiation, explains Bern Kohler, assistant professor of chemistry....

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