Do you have any sunscreen?

I had to put on sunscreen.

So I think half of my book advance went into sunscreen.

And that could be the basis of a sunscreen because sunscreens work by absorbing ultraviolet light.

I'm probably the only person you'll ever meet who rode his bicycle across the Sahara desert without sunscreen.

So melanin was recruited, in our lineage, and specifically in our earliest ancestors evolving in Africa, to be a natural sunscreen.

So melanin was recruited, in our lineage, and specifically in our earliest ancestors evolving in Africa, to be a natural sunscreen.

This was no small feat, because if you listen to dermatologists, they say that you should have a shot glass full of sunscreen.

lots and lots of ultraviolet radiation and the melanin this wonderful, complex, ancient polymer compound in our skin served as a superb natural sunscreen.

So, living at the equator, we got lots and lots of ultraviolet radiation and the melanin this wonderful, complex, ancient polymer compound in our skin served as a superb natural sunscreen.

For a full year, A.J. Jacobs followed every piece of health advice he could from applying sunscreen by the shot glass to wearing a bicycle helmet while shopping. Onstage at TEDMED, he shares the surprising things he learned.

There's a website called cosmeticsdatabase.com, and you can literally put in your shampoo, your toothpaste, your soap, your makeup, your sunscreen, and all of your cleaning products, and it pops out how toxic it is on a scale to one to ten, and you can find out what's toxic and what's a safer alternative to the things you're using.