Blogs / Discoblog

If researchers can figure out how to replicate hippo sweat, they may bring the quest for the perfect sunscreen—and for magic tricks like sunburn indicators—to an end.

A California-based research team has discovered that hippos produce an oily red secretion that contains microscopic structures that scatter light and protect the hippos from burning. The researchers, who specialize in biomimicry, hope to develop a product inspired by the sweat that will serve as a four-in-one: sunscreen, sunblock, antiseptic, and insect repellent.

The team collected sweat from hippos at a zoo and found that it contained two types of liquid crystalline structures. The banded structure, characterized by concentric rings that are comparable to wavelengths of visible light, makes it effective at scattering light, and the non-banded structure reduces the sweat’s viscosity and allows it to spread more easily over the surface of the animal.

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Prone to sunburn? Help may be on the way. Scotland researchers have developed a wristband that warns its users when they’re about to get burned. The indicator changes color when exposed to potentially dangerous levels of UV rays, so as soon as it turns pink, a person knows to get out of the sun. Or not, and burn.

The technology, which chief researcher Andrew Mills calls “intelligent ink,” relies on a simple enough process: UV rays trigger a chemical reaction in the indicator, which contains an acid-sensitive dye that then causes the change in color. The band improves upon other UV-measuring devices because it gives a signal at the precise moment the sun is about to cause damage. It can also be adapted to different skin types/colors by adding alkali, which delays when the dye changes color.

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