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The Ultimate Fake Bake
Remember that movie way back when called Soul Man about the guy who got into Harvard after taking tanning pills and saying he was of African American origin? While it was an uplifting, thoughtful tale about some of our society's problems with race, I have to admit that I always wondered about those pills. Could one really get a tan through a pill bottle? If so, why in the world aren't they more popular, and why would people opt for skin cancer causing agents like sunbathing and tanning booths? Skin cancer is a nasty business and it affects one whole heck of a lot of people, a few friends and relatives of mind included. And now, according to Wired News, there is actually a pill...wait, scratch that...there is a lotion that has been invented that stimulates your melanocytes and gives you the deep, George Hamilton glow you've always wanted.
Yes, researchers at the University of Kentucky are perfecting skin cream that stimulates the body's own tan-generating cells. The drug is called forskolin (my guess is they'll change it if it becomes a product) and scientists tested it on a bunch of mice. The mice were said to be very pleased with their tans and immediately moved to LA and bought convertibles, hoping to get into film. OK, not true. But the point is that the new invention does provide a promising way for people to avoid the pain, misery and potential long-term harm of skin cancer. Here's another take on the story from BBC News.
