A soap mix is helping to combat skin cancer.
Sunscreen is useful there, too, but mostly not eco-friendly. Enter two Boston-based researchers who have pooled their knowledge of underwater molluscs to launch a new startup.
Their experiments showed that colour pigments in squid or octopus could protect against the sun when combined with zinc oxide. After recreating the pigments in the lab, the pair mixed it with a mineral water-in-oil emulsion.
Creating an environmentally- and skin-friendly sunscreen alternative which gives UV protection for four hours. With twice the number of antioxidants as Vitamin E, the pigments could also be used in anti-ageing creams.
Jellyfish, of course, are anti-crime. And back on land, camels have proved an unlikely inspiration.Â
