Ultraviolet

When asked what their favorite color is, I've never heard a youngster reply ultraviolet. That is probably because it is outside of the visible light spectrum.

Last year, my rocket team was involved with NASA's Student Launch Initiative. The mission was to build a rocket to go a mile high and carry an on-board experiment. As a Christian team they wanted to do an experiment that would have some value, something meaningful. (Learn more about the Christian worldview of rocketry they developed.) After discussing a variety of topics, they discovered that most of the team had connections to people who had skin cancer or who had surgery to remove it. Astronauts who are outside of earth's protective atmosphere will be exposed to more extreme levels of UV rays. So their experiment was to see if a particular UV measuring method would enable us to discern a difference between the UV intensity at ground level versus that at a mile high. The rest of this story will have to wait for another day or perhaps you can read the news.

Anyway, the reason I bring this all up is because during their research we came across some interesting SunSmart info. This first video may become one of your children's favourites.

"Slip, Slop, Slap" is a 7MB movie good for the kiddies that was an Aussie commercial in the 80s.

This 3 MB video, good for age 16+, is a more recent effort to educate the public:
http://www.sunsmart.com.au/downloads/about_sunsmart/ads/tattoo.mpg

Find out today's UV alert in Australia. FIND out UV index in USA

When the UV Index reaches 3 and above, take five steps to protect yourself against sun damage.

Slip on some sun protective clothing

Slop on SPF30+ sunscreen

Slap on a hat

Seek shade

Slide on some sunglasses