Word: ultraviolet
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...lesions, known as solar or actinic keratoses, commonly appear as rough red areas on the skin. Wrinkling--technically known as photoaging--and the lesions are different abnormalities related to exposure to dangerous ultraviolet rays...
...PRIMARY CAUSE OF THE HOLE IN THE EARTH'S protective ozone layer is a group of man-made chemicals called chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), used in refrigerators, air conditioners and plastic foams. The chlorine released when these compounds decompose attacks ozone, letting dangerous ultraviolet light from the sun shine through...
Earlier studies hinted that cataracts are associated with smoking, along with other factors, including exposure to ultraviolet light and the use of steroids and alcohol. But this is the strongest evidence yet. Researchers monitored nearly 18,000 male physicians and more than 50,000 female nurses for five and eight years respectively, asking about smoking behavior and checking the incidence of cataract surgery. The conclusion: men who smoked more than a pack a day ran twice the risk of nonsmokers for developing lenses cloudy enough to require their removal; women who so indulged had a 60% greater risk than their...
...OZONE LAYER THINS, PEOPLE MAY SPEND more time indoors to avoid the skin cancers and cataracts likely to result from more ultraviolet light reaching the earth's surface. That strategy could backfire. Like the sun, the high- intensity quartz-halogen lights used increasingly in homes and offices emit ultraviolet as well as visible light, and there is now evidence that they, too, can cause skin cancer...
Just as worrisome is the threat to the world's food supply. High doses of UV radiation can reduce the yield of basic crops such as soybeans. UV-B, the most dangerous variety of ultraviolet, penetrates scores of meters below the surface of the oceans. There the radiation can kill phytoplankton (one-celled plants) and krill (tiny shrimplike animals), which are at the very bottom of the ocean food chain. Since these organisms, found in greatest concentrations in Antarctic waters, nourish larger fish, the ultimate consumers -- humans -- may face a maritime food shortage. Scientists believe the lower plants and animals...