• picture
  • picture
  • picture
  • picture
Public Radio's Environmental News Magazine (follow us on Google News)

Emerging Science Note/Smart Cosmetics

Air Date: Week of

Living on Earth’s Jennifer Chu reports on research that may lead to pollution smart cosmetics.



Transcript

CURWOOD: Just ahead: the hi-tech hunt for signs of brain damage from tiny amounts of lead. First, this Note on Emerging Science from Jennifer Chu.

[MUSIC: EMERGING SCIENCE THEME]

CHU: If smog alerts are getting in the way of your beauty regimen, a French cosmetics company has an answer. L’Oreal has teamed up with the European Space Agency to design pollution-smart skin-care products. The idea is to cut down on pollution’s effects on hair and skin. The company plans to create a line of moisturizers, face creams, and shampoos that are tailor-made for the world’s most polluted cities.

To do that, L’Oreal’s scientists and beauty experts are studying daily maps of the ESA’s orbiting satellite. Its measurements of the earth’s air, land and sea are normally used to track rainforest destruction and melting ice caps. Now cosmetic scientists will use that satellite’s data on ozone, carbon monoxide, and ultraviolet radiation to study pollution in cities like London and Los Angeles.

So far, L’Oreal scientists have observed that volunteers living in highly polluted areas of Mexico City have exhibited increased oxidation of the sebum – or oily skin. The company hopes to someday design a line of cosmetics that will adapt to the changing levels of pollution from day to day.

And that’s this week’s Note on Emerging Science. I’m Jennifer Chu.

CURWOOD: And you're listening to Living on Earth.

[MUSIC: Massive Attack Vs. Mad Professor “Bumper Ball Dub (Karmacoma) ” NO PROTECTION (Circa - 1995)]

 

 

Living on Earth wants to hear from you!

Living on Earth
62 Calef Highway, Suite 212
Lee, NH 03861
Telephone: 617-287-4121
E-mail: comments@loe.org

Newsletter [Click here]

Donate to Living on Earth!
Living on Earth is an independent media program and relies entirely on contributions from listeners and institutions supporting public service. Please donate now to preserve an independent environmental voice.

Newsletter
Living on Earth offers a weekly delivery of the show's rundown to your mailbox. Sign up for our newsletter today!

Sailors For The Sea: Be the change you want to sea.

The Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment: Committed to protecting and improving the health of the global environment.

Contribute to Living on Earth and receive, as our gift to you, an archival print of one of Mark Seth Lender's extraordinary wildlife photographs. Follow the link to see Mark's current collection of photographs.

Buy a signed copy of Mark Seth Lender's book Smeagull the Seagull & support Living on Earth