There are downsides to sunscreen: it can be greasy, it's annoying to have to reapply, and from time to time people will try to scare you into thinking it's dangerous. (It's not.) But you know what the upside is? It's actually sunscreen. Pills and DIY coconut oil recipes are not.

The sun's ultraviolet radiation is dangerous to our skin cells because it damages our DNA. That's why sun exposure can cause cancer, and why sunscreen is so important (even apart from its power to prevent sunburns). There are sunscreens that claim they can help your skin repair that damage — and, it turns out, they actually might (might!) work.

I'm so diligent about my sunscreen these days that my skin now, in November, is still the same light beige colour that it was all winter. But if you yearn for that sun-kissed glow, you're probably wondering what is the best way to get a tan - and whether any method is truly safe.

Last year, nearly 14,000 Australians were diagnosed with melanoma, the most dangerous form of skin cancer. A new tool, designed to predict the risk of developing melanoma, has just been released by the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute. It only takes a minute to predict your risk of disease in the next 3.5 years.

Every now and again, Lifehacker asks a medical professional the health questions that you wish an expert would answer but you can't quite bring yourself to ask. Today's letter writer just wants to take care of their skin health - but one of their moles is in a very private location.

Unless you are sure you have every inch of your face covered in sunscreen right now, sit down. We need to talk.

Sunscreen is sunscreen, so you'd think the way you apply it doesn't really matter. However, choosing between cream or lotion and a spray-on sunscreen can impact the likelihood you'll use it, the amount of coverage on your skin, and even the actual protection you get. Let's find out which might be better for you in this sunscreen showdown.

Many of us have probably experienced squeezing out what we think might be way too much sunscreen, and so we desperately try to smear the extra on the closest person, or shove some back into the bottle (with no luck). As it turns out, we may actually need all of that...and more.

We should all be using sunscreen, but when it comes down to picking one, there's no key to the language on the bottle, and SPF isn't the only thing to look for. Here's a guide to the other biggies: UVA, UVB, and "broad spectrum."

The "slip-slop-slap" mantra is something all Australian parents need to instill in their children. However, depending on the gender of your child, it may be more important to "slop" than to "slip". According to new research, the majority of girls' clothes sold in Australia leave them dangerously exposed to the sun.

A sunscreen labelled "SPF 15" should let you spend about 15 times as long in the sun before you burn. Pretty awesome, right? Unfortunately, most of us don't get that level of protection because we don't apply enough. What you're likely getting: a mere SPF 2.