Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by supernova87a 2099 days ago
I guess this is the science behind the statement "sunlight is the best disinfectant" through the ages.
1 comments

Correct. Since UV light acts at the molecular level and at the very core of what makes the cell work (DNA or RNA) it's hard for organisms to overcome. There are mechanisms of fixing these dimers, but cells need to produce them (which uses resources). Therefore there is a trade off, create too many fixes and something else has to give, create too little and a little UV light kills you.