And yet, at the same time, the bright sunlight streaming through the Glass Hall's massive, transparent walls, makes it feel like being outdoors.

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Thanks to the 24-hour sunlight that takes over the Lapp sky at this time of year and the seasonally adjusted lift schedule, you can tear up the pistes until 1 a.m. every Monday and Friday between May 13 and 24.

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Scientists have known for a long time that aerosols cool climate by reflecting sunlight and making clouds brighter, but the new study is the first to use a global model to estimate the net effects on plant carbon intake resulting from this type of atmospheric pollution.

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Although he offers some points of light -- putting an aerosol layer of fine particles into the stratosphere to reflect back sunlight may, he says, could buy us some time by slowing down the rate of decline for a decade -- his projections are on the whole brutally pessimistic.

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So next time you are on the beach, you could charge your iPhone via sunlight.

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In addition, vitamin D can be produced by the skin with sunlight exposure, but this ability decreases with age and varies considerably by geography, time of day or year, skin melanin content (darker skin produces less vitamin D) and sunscreen use.

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"For hours, days, I fixated on the patch of sunlight cast against my wall through those barred and grated windows, " Bauer wrote of his time in Iran.

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