Have I told you guys lately that you should be reading the Scicurious blog, especially for Weird Science Fridays? Because, seriously, you guys. You guys, seriously.
Today, Scicurious tackles “DOSIMETRIC INVESTIGATION OF THE SOLAR ERYTHEMAL
UV RADIATION PROTECTION PROVIDED BY BEARDS AND MOUSTACHES”, a paper published in the journal Radiation Protection Dosimetry. Basically, it’s about whether beards protect their owners’ skin from sun damage. You need to go to Scicurious’ site just to see the photo of the apparatus the researchers built to study this question. Suffice to say, it involves a lot of disembodied heads, in various stages of beardedness, hanging out on what looks like an old-fashioned merry-go-round.
Bearded gentlemen will be pleased to note that the beard is, actually, an effective means of sun protection. At least for the skin it covers.
Image: beard: the end, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from soundfromwayout’s photostream