What Causes Sunburns?

Why does too much sun turn some people’s skin all red and shiny? Quick Questions explains!
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[AlterBridgeSaint]

Can we please have a moments silence for all the dead skin cells that have valiantly sacrificed them selves so that we can be here today....  Thank you.

[ModelOmegaForReal]

Good guy skin cells.

Sacrifice themselves to save you from getting cancer.

[dondonnysson]

all these skin cells committing honorable seppuku

[TotallyPitted]

Wow just got burnt yesterday and they release this.. Sweet!

[ryant]

I got sun blisters before, you don't want that, trust me

I love SciShow!!! Always explaining everyday things that I had thought I already knew, but it turns out I didn't.

[KathyTrithardt]

QQ: do fruit flies serve a purpose other than annoying humans?

[EmilyJelassi]

Being a redhead and very fair-skinned, I don't just sunburn... I burst into flames! I think I've tried every single sunblock and sunscreen on the market and none work. Even tried prescription sunblock from my dermatologist and ended up with 2nd degree sun poisoning... the sun hates me

[Annaie]

I have bad reactions to sunscreen and since my dad had skin cancer I'm pretty much terrified to go outside during the summer or anytime where I'm not covered completely

[wolfman-updh]

Why, exactly, do bad sunburns sting? Are the cells damaged to a point that it's essentially an open wound?

[FernieCanto]

I always had the impression that sunburn was the skin being literally burnt when the melanin was not enough, so this is a fascinating new piece of info. It also explains why it merely feels warm in the beginning, and starts to hurt only afterwards. That's impressive. I appreciate my skin a lot more than I already did now.

[godlesslippillow]

I'm loving all of these patron questions. I'll scroll through YouTube and see a Sci Show video answering a question I didn't even know I wanted to to know the answer to.

[harshvardhansingh]

You made fear in me of skin cancer,
I'm 15 years boy, I don't want to die....
😭😭😭

[sleepy-sheepy]

I love when I have an idea for how a certain things works and then I look it up and I’m completely wrong and the actual thing is way more fascinating then my explanation

[TheEvilVargon]

After reading a few of the comments, a mini series where you go in depth of what happens if X goes extinct would be amazing.

What happens if fruit flies go extinct? Frogs? Cockroaches? Seagulls?

[JustAboutToEat]

Thank god for being dark skinned. Never been sunburnt in my life..

[buttonhugs]

Last night I searched youtube to see if there was scishow on sunburns. What great timing!

[IvyAllstarz]

What causes sunburns? The sun! Duh! LoL just kidding!

[brodman]

What did humans do when they, presumably, didn't wear as many clothes and sunscreen didn't exist. Was cancer very common or were people just good at avoiding the sun?
Sounds like a terrible design for us to have more chance of dieing just by going outside

[bobbyed]

I've been going outside more this summer than usual, and even though I use sunscreen and am not usually at the pool for more than an hour or two at a time, I have been getting a tan. I wasn't really worried about it because I haven't been getting burned, but now I kind of am. The sun feels so good though!