Just what the world needs – tan mice. David Fisher, and researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Children's Hospital Boston have developed a lotion that inspires skin cells in mice to create melanin. The melanin caused the mice to develop a tan. The research has practical medical implications and not just cosmetic ramifications. Researchers showed that the tan may shield individuals from developing skin cancer. Tan mice resisted burning and scaring that the fair skinned mice were susceptible.

In the study the lotion created a level of protection superior to a sun (or UV) based tan. It's not particularly good or bad news as the experiment focused on fair skinned mice – those that generally burn and don’t tan when exposed to sunlight. Of course mice are only the first step in the research before it's made safe for human use. The lotion hasn't made it past the experimental phase yet and researchers have cautioned people not to get too optimistic about the possibilities. However, we're looking forward to a nice bronze for the start of swimsuit season 2007 – now with added cancer protection.

The research team wouldn't release a photo of the tan mice. Michael Jackson was the obvious ironic image. We settled, however, on the photo here from Flickr user benn which has no real relevance to the post other than the word "tan" and the fact that we don't quite understand what it all means.