Short Wave - Teens Are Following Skincare Trends On TikTok. Some Dermatologists Are Wary

Episode Date: July 12, 2024

TikTok is fuel for many trends, including a skin care craze among teens, pre-teens — okay, and us. The "glass skin" trend calls for a multi-step routine, often involving pricey products. It's all in pursuit of dewy, seemingly poreless, glowing complexion – like glass. But some dermatologists say these attempts can backfire, irritating, burning and even peeling sensitive pre-teen skin. As teens and tweens have become major consumers of skin care products, dermatologists are seeing more of these cases and are cautioning against these elaborate routines.Want more science behind what's going viral? Email us at [e-mail]. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

You're listening to Shortwave from NPR. Hey, Short Wavers. Regina Barber here. And this time we have a news roundup first-timer, Scott Destro. Welcome. Are you nervous? I don't know which way this is going to go. I'll see.

Hi. You're in good hands. Hello. And we have host extraordinaire, Emily Kwong. Hey, hey. And as both of you know, we're going to share three science stories in the news that have caught our attention recently. Including the fact that there are gassy planets out there that smell like rotten eggs. Yep, and a pair of Lion Brothers making a record-breaking swim in Uganda.

And there's some pre-teens pursuing the glass skin care trend, and it's making dermatologists really nervous. All on this episode of Shortwave, the science podcast from NPR. All right, Scott, you're our guest. We want to make you feel welcome. So what topic should we talk about first? I am into all of these. I think I most want to hear about the rotten eggs, but we will save that for later. Let's start with the record-breaking line.

Swim. Where was this clocked? Okay, so this swim was recorded in Queen Elizabeth National Park in Uganda. It's a place just rich with different ecosystems, diverse wildlife. And these conservationists are tracking on animals all the time. And that's how they know about two lion brothers named Jacob and Tebu. And using heat detection cameras on drones, researchers spotted these lions making a record-breaking swim nearly a mile long across a predator-infested channel. I'm invested. because who are predators to lions?

Like, tell me more. Right. Right. So one of the co-authors of the study, Alex Braschofsky, told us that the channel splits the national park in two. And it's filled with Nile crocodiles and hippos. And in video footage, Alex could see the lions make a few attempts to cross and then turn back when something started following them in the water. It's just incredible, like the sort of bravery in the face of adversity that these lions show, you know, taking on these crock and hippo waters to try and make this swim.

So, yeah, for context, previous water crossings by African lions have been recorded at most a couple hundred feet. Plus, the brothers have done this swim at least six times. They're real pros. Seems like it. Yeah. And Jacob, the lion, is particularly famous among researchers because of all he has survived. Alex calls him. Probably the most interesting lion in Africa because he's probably the most resilient individual out of the whole population.

Jacob has gotten caught in a snare. then he had one of his legs amputated in a poacher's trap. Then some of his family members got poisoned by poachers. And then he got gored by a buffalo. Do lions have the nine lives guarantee that smaller cats have? They're cats. Yeah. Jacob might.

Yeah. Though, I mean, this is clearly risky. Why were the lions making this swim? Yeah. So most likely to find a mate, researchers think that because of like human wildlife conflict, poaching in the park, changes in the habitat, they're like fewer females than males. So males like Jacob and Tebu are having to make tough choices to try to reproduce. We talked to an ecologist named Craig Packer about this.

He led the Serengeti Lion Project for 35 years. And he said the lion's swim was impressive, but unsurprising, given all that human and mating pressures these lions face in the park. And everyone we talked to just ultimately wants a better relationship between scientists and local communities to protect the lions and other wildlife. so they don't have to resort to journeys like this. That makes sense. So let's stick on Earth. Yeah, for now. Before we go to this smelly planet.

He's really excited about the smelly planet. I'm excited. Thank you, thank you. As an astronomer, I am touched. But let's talk about this glass skin craze. I mean, you can tell based on my glowing skin. I can. I know what it is.

I was hit by it as soon as you walked in. But for those of us who aren't radiating the way I am, what is it? So glass skin is this. skincare trend from South Korea that is being copied all over TikTok. Yeah, it's all in this pursuit of this like dewy, poreless, and almost glowing complexion, a clear as glass. That's achieved by apparently layering on multiple products. How many products are we talking about? It varies, but starts with cleansers, then an exfoliant to clear dead skin and then a whole slew of stuff, toner, essence, serums, a lot of which have active ingredients. And preteens are following all of these

steps. Unfortunately, that can backfire and cause them to be more irritated, so it's causing redness, peeling, flaking, burning. This is Carol Chang, a pediatric dermatologist at UCLA speaking to our colleague Maria Godoy, who reported the story for the NPR Science Desk. And Carol says that patients as young as eight or nine are coming in with rashes or bad reactions to these products. And is that because of the products themselves or the fact that these kids are so young in using them? It's the fact that Certain products like chemical exfolients or retinoles contain active ingredients that are just too harsh for people in this age group. Preteen skin is much thinner. It is more sensitive to those chemicals. These products are designed ultimately for older people. So what can happen to these preteens is that their skin barrier, their stratum corneum gets compromised, so their skin is more sensitive and prone to irritation.

So clearly, teens and preteens are going to stay interested in this, especially given these trends on TikTok. What is an appropriate skin care routine for a preteen? Yeah, so Maria asked Dallas-based dermatologist Elizabeth Hushman, and her advice was to keep it simple, like a gentle cleanser, some moisturizer and sunscreen, and that's it. That's what I do. Yeah. And if you are battling acne, like I did as a teenager and you're listening to this story with your parents in the car, fear not. Like, over-the-counter products are fine, ones with, say, benzal peroxide. Elizabeth just stresses that you talk to a pediatrician or a dermatologist, if you're not sure.

And then, of course, there's just taking care of yourself on the inside, too. Eating a balanced diet, exercising, getting a good night's sleep, all of that goodness will show up on your skin. All right. I'm just going to reveal the curtain here and say that the next line was written as such. Without my approval. Let's end with the fart-smelling planet, quote, as a gassy guy myself, I'm very invested. And me too. Glowing skin and gassy hosting.

Yeah, Scott's a show. What a brave thing to admit to millions of Americans. American Scott. Let's talk about this exoplanet, which means a planet found outside of our solar system. And in this case, this exoplanet is 64 light years away, which is actually pretty close in astronomical terms. And this swirly blue exoplanet is a gas giant, just like Jupiter. And it's pretty close to the same size as Jupiter, but it's way closer to its own star. And it's so close to its own star that this planet's year is roughly 48 hours. That's wild. Yeah. Yeah. It's so close to its star that the surface temperature on this planet is 17,000 degrees Fahrenheit, which is way hotter than any planet in our solar system.

So to recap, it smells like farts. It has very fast ears and it's 17. This does not sound like a pleasant planet. It's so hot, it could melt your face off immediately. You don't need the skin care. No, all skin care is rendered useless in this world. These kinds of exoplanets have a name. They're called hot Jupiters. If your nose could work for a second before it melts, it will also smell quite stinky. So that's Guang Wei Fu, and he's the lead author of the study that just published in nature, and he and his team studied this planet's atmosphere using light from the star it's orbiting, memorably named HD 189-733. And so we're looking at the star's light as it's passing through the planet's atmosphere.

And that can tell us what the atmosphere is made out of, because different particles block different wavelengths of light. And here they could tell that carbon dioxide, water, and our smelly friend hydrogen sulfide are blocking some light. Why does the sulfur matter so much? Yeah, it's just that this is the first time that this kind of hydrogen sulfide molecule has been detected outside our solar system. Like before that, scientists had only confirmed it inside our solar system. Yeah, and so learning more about what's in exoplanet atmospheres can tell us more about how planets formed. Is it unique or is maybe formation similar across our galaxy?

Scott, thank you so much for gossiping about science with us today. It was been awesome. This was more fun than all of the other news I've been dealing with this week. Thank you. You're welcome. We'll be back in two weeks. Before we head out, a quick shout out to our Shortwave Plus listeners. We appreciate you and we thank you for supporting our show.

Shortwave Plus helps support our show. And if you're a regular listener, we'd love for you to join so you can enjoy the show without sponsor interruptions. Find out more at plus.npr.npr.org slash shortwave. This episode was produced by Mallory U and Rachel Carlson. It was edited by Rebecca Ramirez and Timbeat Armius. Rachel and I checked the facts and the audio engineer was Tiffany Veracastro. I'm Regina Barber. And I'm Emily Kwong.

Thank you for listening to Shortwave. The science podcast from NPR.