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Letter: Seeing the light

Published 14 December 2011

From Adam Justice-Mills

Elena Oancea at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, and colleagues have shown a link between skin and the light-sensitive chemical rhodopsin, which is also found in the retina (12 November, p 20).

If we don’t get enough sun on our skin during the winter months, could this contribute to making us seasonally depressed?

The editor writes:

• The researchers say there is no evidence that rhodopsin expression in skin can be linked to any kind of depression, so perhaps best to wrap up warm instead.

London, UK

Issue no. 2843 published 17 December 2011

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