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Skin cancer comes from the sun. But so do many good things, according to author Rowan Jacobsen. Jacobsen talks with EconTalk's Russ Roberts about the health benefits of sunshine and makes the case for prudent sun exposure. Topics discussed include the “heliotherapy” movement that peaked in the early 1900s in response to rickets and tuberculosis, why diagnosing skin cancer is on the rise, and why yesterday’s sunscreens may have done more harm than good.
Listen to the episode here.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Rowan Jacobsen’s award-winning books, features, and talks explore the edges of what it means to be experiencing intelligence in a world of other related intelligences, from the familiar to the exotic, and how our greater well-being depends on successfully surfing these relationships. His work has appeared in Harper’s, Outside, The Atlantic, Scientific American, Smithsonian, National Geographic, The New York Times, The Washington Post, MIT Technology Review, Businessweek, Forbes, and The Best American Science & Nature Writing. He has received awards from the James Beard Foundation, the Society of American Travel Writers, and the Overseas Press Club. He has spoken at Harvard, Yale, MIT, and the Aspen Ideas Festival, and has appeared on CBS, NBC, and NPR. He has been an Alicia Patterson Foundation Fellow, writing about endangered diversity on the borderlands between India, Myanmar, and China; a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT, focusing on the promises and perils of synthetic biology; and a Media Fellow at the Nova Institute for Health, researching the science of sun exposure. His books include the James Beard finalist Wild Chocolate, the James Beard winner A Geography of Oysters, and the 2026 hit In Defense of Sunlight.
RELATED SOURCES
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Gu, Jiayue; Stevenson, Andrew C.; Brady, Annie R.; Cowan, Graeme J.M.; Dibben, Chris; Weller, Richard B. “Risk–Benefit Balance of Habitual Ultraviolet Exposure for Cardiovascular, Cancer, and Skin Cancer Mortality: UK Biobank Cohort Study.” medRxiv, 2026.
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Jacobsen, Rowan. In Defense of Sunlight: The Surprising Science of Sun Exposure. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2025.
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Jacobsen, Rowan. “Rowan Jacobsen on Truffle Hound.” Interview by Russ Roberts. EconTalk, October 18, 2021.
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Kittler, Harald. “Evolution of the Clinical, Dermoscopic and Pathologic Diagnosis of Melanoma.” Dermatology Practical & Conceptual 11, no. 3, 2021.
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Manson, JoAnn E.; Cook, Nancy R.; Lee, I-Min; Christen, William; Bassuk, Shari S.; Mora, Samia; Gibson, Heike; et. al. “Vitamin D Supplements and Prevention of Cancer and Cardiovascular Disease.” New England Journal of Medicine 380, no. 1, 2019: 33–44.
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“Professor Richard Weller.” Centre for Inflammation Research, University of Edinburgh.
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“Rowan Jacobsen.” Official website.
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Weller, Richard. “Could the Sun Be Good for Your Heart?” TED Talk, March 2012.
