Sources of blue light include the sun, digital screens, and electronic devices:
According to a recent study from Oregon State University, the harmful consequences of daily, lifetime exposure to the blue light emitted by phones, computers, and home lighting become worse as people age.
The common fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, was used in the research, which was recently published in Nature Partner Journals Aging. Drosophila melanogaster is a useful model organism because it shares cellular and developmental mechanisms with humans and other animals.
A team led by Jaga Giebultowicz, a scientist at the OSU College of Science who specializes in biological clocks, studied the survival rate of flies maintained in darkness and then transferred to an environment of continual blue light from light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, at increasingly older ages.
[...] "The novel aspect of this new study is showing that chronic exposure to blue light can impair energy-producing pathways even in cells that are not specialized in sensing light," Giebultowicz said. "We determined that specific reactions in mitochondria were dramatically reduced by blue light, while other reactions were decreased by age independent of blue light. You can think of it as blue light exposure adding insult to injury in aging flies."
[...] "This technology, LED lighting, even in most developed countries, has not been used long enough to know its effects across the human lifespan," she said. "There are increasing concerns that extended exposure to artificial light, especially blue-enriched LED light, may be detrimental to human health. While the full effects of blue light exposure across the lifespan are not yet known in humans, accelerated aging observed in short-lived model organisms should alert us to the potential of cellular damage by this stressor."
In the meantime, there are a few things people can do to help themselves that don't involve sitting for hours in darkness, the researchers say. Eyeglasses with amber lenses will filter out the blue light and protect your retinas. And phones, laptops, and other devices can be set to block blue emissions.
Journal Reference:
Song, Yujuan, Yang, Jun, Law, Alexander D., et al. Age-dependent effects of blue light exposure on lifespan, neurodegeneration, and mitochondria physiology in Drosophila melanogaster [open], npj Aging (DOI: 10.1038/s41514-022-00092-z)
(Score: 2) by SomeGuy on Tuesday September 13 2022, @08:04PM (1 child)
Somewhere there is a marketing department screaming "but, but, but sales!".
I wonder how such a study escaped getting crushed by big companies?....... Oh SHIT! Something even more ass-rapey is coming down the pipeline!
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Wednesday September 14 2022, @01:41PM
Because, this can all be fixed with a slight addition to cost via a built-in blue light filter/mode. Probably can all be done in software, but that'll add a nice $50 to the price-tag. Why $50, because reasons.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 5, Informative) by digitalaudiorock on Tuesday September 13 2022, @08:17PM (7 children)
While we're on the subject, how about banning those Godless blue xenon headlights. How did those ever become a thing. It's a fact that blue wavelengths fuck with night vision and dark adapted vision WAY more than red, which is why astronomers use red flashlights.
Headlights in general are a topic that pisses me off to no end, especially as I get older and night vision gets worse naturally. Over the last 40 years they've gotten brighter, bluer, and with the prevalence of SUVs, a lot higher as well. It's become a war of attrition where everyone gets blinded and nobody sees well. Worst case, getting tail gated at night by a high-end SUV with xenon headlights, is roughly like having a fucking night baseball game up your ass. Fucking enough already.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by acid andy on Wednesday September 14 2022, @12:01AM (4 children)
Totally agree. If you're lucky enough to own an older vehicle, the standard lights will be way too dim in comparison so you end up having to avoid driving at night or look into upgrading its headlights which costs time and money and will likely need relays wiring in so as not to overload the old, lower current wiring. It's really stupid.
Master of the science of the art of the science of art.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by coolgopher on Wednesday September 14 2022, @11:19AM
Personal favourite is when you're driving at night, with the highbeam on, and someone comes up behind you with these !@#^!& lights bright enough that all of a sudden your own car is casting a shadow in front of itself.
(Score: 2) by ChrisMaple on Wednesday September 14 2022, @04:57PM (1 child)
Modern LED headlights can emit at least 4X more light for the same current as old incandescent headlights. No need to upgrade wiring if headlight is properly designed.
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Wednesday September 14 2022, @06:50PM
That's true but on the other hand they don't look great on some older classic cars where a halogen bulb is a nicer upgrade. Also if the car uses reflector headlight bowls for which a modern replacement is not available, an LED bulb may not work well with that and it may negatively affect the beam pattern. Improperly fitted aftermarket LED headlight bulbs are also illegal in some countries.
Master of the science of the art of the science of art.
(Score: 2) by digitalaudiorock on Thursday September 15 2022, @02:11PM
Actually though, I drive a 2005 Scion XB and the lights have always been plenty bright for me. That's never been my problem, and would only contribute to the ongoing headlight wars. The issue is getting blinded by everyone else, which obviously I can't control. When it comes to cars in back of you, I've always found that lever on the rear view mirror that dims the reflections to be pretty useless. With that engaged you can't tell headlights / reflections / shadows apart.
To me this is a case of regulation that should have happened decades ago before things got to this state...but here we are.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday September 14 2022, @02:13PM
Reflective film in your back window. People with those xenon headlights who zoom up behind you and tailgate wind up blinding themselves. Let them get a taste of their own medicine.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by corey on Wednesday September 14 2022, @10:36PM
Agree. I was talking to a taxi driver (who is on the road all the time), he was complaining about the same thing of recent years.
Here in rural Australia, half the vehicles on the road at night are SUVs, utes and 4WDs which have huge LED light bars on the front. You see them coming for miles. Then you are totally blinded while they find the switch. I’m not sure why people feel it necessary to need to light up so far ahead.
I’m surprised their legal.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday September 13 2022, @08:41PM (2 children)
I am not a fruit fly.
Fruit flies are born and die in a matter of days, I am already thousands of times older than the oldest fruit fly, whatever this effect is in fruit flies, translation to actual human impacts is dubious at best. Sure, they're biochemists, they have 'models' that have been published, and verified how?
Having said all that, my phone and all the screens in my house switch to amber tint from 9pm to 6am daily. I'm already freakishly tall, when compared with my ancestors who did not grow up with electric lighting in their homes, and lack of blue light has been repeatedly linked to the abnormally high rates of winter depression in the northern latitudes, so like anything: too much of a good thing isn't always (or even usually) also good.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 4, Funny) by c0lo on Wednesday September 14 2022, @02:35AM (1 child)
Doh, those contrarians.
Why can't you just thank the reporter for telling you the blue lights can keep your fermenting fruits free of fruit flies?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday September 14 2022, @10:09AM
Free of old fruit flies, the younger ones aren't as disabled by it.
Also, if I read the summary correctly the title is misleading, though no more than usual. Blue light damage doesn't increase with age, it simply stacks with age related damage.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 2) by Snotnose on Tuesday September 13 2022, @09:28PM (8 children)
Which we've been warned about for 50 years now. "You can burn in 5 minutes", sez news reporter. Meanwhile, I go on a 45 minute walk with a friend and end up sweaty and maybe a bit of tan, but no sunburn.
Or does laying on a towel on the beach in a speedo for an hour make me more susceptible than khackies and a hawaii'n shirt walking up and down a trail for an hour.
BTW, thank you for whichever spell check is telling me khackies is spelled wrong. I know it is, it looks wrong. How about a little help on how to correctly spell it without giving stupid alternatives like "hackish, and tell me how to spell the damned word.
I just passed a drug test. My dealer has some explaining to do.
(Score: 2, Informative) by pTamok on Tuesday September 13 2022, @09:35PM (1 child)
Wikipedia:Khaki [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 2) by vux984 on Tuesday September 13 2022, @09:50PM
and the plural is Khakis
and the fixed wikipedia link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khaki [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 5, Touché) by c0lo on Wednesday September 14 2022, @02:31AM (4 children)
I dare you do the same in Australia in October-December in a clear sky day.
You may blame your skepticism if you acquire a melanoma in the process.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 1, Troll) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday September 14 2022, @02:11PM (3 children)
Pfft. Who the hell gets a sunburn in the middle of the winter? Is your snow radioactive or something?
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Wednesday September 14 2022, @02:59PM (1 child)
Err ... you know how seasons work? And you know where Australia is located?
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Thursday September 15 2022, @01:37PM
I expected c0lo to miss the joke, but not you, maxwell demon. Sigh.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday September 14 2022, @04:54PM
What the hell are you even talking about? Everyone sane knows Christmas is a summer holiday!
At that time of the year, the only water in solid form is the ice in the box keeping the beer cold, mate.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 2) by bradley13 on Wednesday September 14 2022, @07:00AM
A lot is what you're used to. I'm outside a lot, in a high-sun area, and have a tan. On the weekend, I forgot my hat when I went on a 6-hour hike. No sunburn. However, if I weren't outside a lot, and had pasty pale skin, things would certainly have been different.
I still should have taken the hat. UV still does damage, even if you don't burn.
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Immerman on Tuesday September 13 2022, @11:31PM
I mean, sunlight is WAY more blue light than pretty much any artificial source. And pretty much any "white" light is going to have a lot of blue (otherwise it would be red), to say nothing of the hideous harsh blue "daylight" bulbs that are so popular for some reason.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Captival on Wednesday September 14 2022, @03:51AM (4 children)
Phone, Computers, Home Lights and the Sun. That's pretty much every possible light. I guess the best thing to do is live in a cave and only light fires.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday September 14 2022, @10:10AM (2 children)
We evolved in caves far longer than we have had electricity.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Wednesday September 14 2022, @11:41AM (1 child)
Cave men are a myth
https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg13318065-400-forum-the-myth-of-the-cave-man-derek-ager-questions-the-stereotypes-of-prehistory/ [newscientist.com]
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday September 14 2022, @01:19PM
Did we live in caves nightly? Probably not much, if at all - pretty damn inconvenient when you want to have a bowel movement, for one thing.
Did we spend significant time in caves? As a species: easily for much longer periods than the 143 years we have had electric light.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday September 14 2022, @03:49PM
We did it for damn near a million years. You think that DIDN'T have an effect on our evolution?
(Score: 2) by bradley13 on Wednesday September 14 2022, @06:57AM (2 children)
Aside from the rather large differences between fruit flies and mammals, I have to wonder about the relevance of this experiment. Keep a critter in total darkness, then expose it to light at a young age, and it adapts. Keep a critter in total darkness until old age, then change its environment? Adaptation is more difficult. This may have zilch to do with blue light.
Also, note that they are talking about damage to ordinary cells - specifically to the mitochondria in those cells. Is this just ordinary damage by high-energy wavelengths? UV would be worse? Green light better? Red light harmless?
The article is crying out for a control group. They absolutely should have run parallel experiments with a different light source. Otherwise, there's no way to know what (if anything) these results mean.
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday September 14 2022, @10:15AM
Unrelated?
There was a mouse sleep pattern study where they subjected a matrix of dozens of mice to different light patterns, all on a 24 hour cycle.
The one that stood out for me was the one minute on, 23:59 off pattern. That mouse would bang fall dead asleep for ~8 hours after the light pulse then have intermittent activity in the dark until the next pulse.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 2) by arslan on Thursday September 15 2022, @03:59AM
I do wonder about the amount of exposure in that experiment, did they have fruit fly sized phones and monitors emitting those blue light or they basically irradiated them with what is equivalent to sun exposure?
One would imagine there's s difference even in the meat bag world between continuous exposure to blue light from devices vs. ambient level...