 Why does having a sunburn hurt? Charlie and his parents made a trip to the beach. He loves the beach. Building sandcastles, swimming, he could stay the entire day. Back at home Charlie realizes that his back stinks, he's got a sunburn. But why does it hurt so much? Exposing the human skin to the sun for too long eventually results in sunburn. The reddening is an obvious sign that you've been sitting in the sun for too long, but the bigger damage can be invisible. This skin damage is caused by UVA and UVB rays which are different wavelengths of ultraviolet light given off by the sun. Ultraviolet light is able to aid your skin and alter your DNA. That way it contributes to the development of skin cancer. When you get a sunburn, your skin turns red and hurts. If it's a severe burn, you can even develop swelling and sunburn blisters. You may also feel like having the flu feverish with chills, nausea, headache and weakness. Some days later, your body starts to get rid of the sun damaged cells. Your skin will start peeling and itching. But why does the burn hurt? The UVB light damages the skin's RNA or ribonucleic acid molecules which turns genetic instructions into proteins. The UVB damaged RNA doesn't code for proteins. But when non-coding RNA is released, neighboring cells flood the skin with inflammatory molecules, creating a chain reaction that ends with sunburn. This increasing damage raises the risk of skin cancer in the long run. But in the short run, this process is how the skin heals from the burn. Now Charlie knows when the sunburn hurts it starts to heal. Still, from now on he will be extra careful about the amount of time spent in the sun. And he will use lots and lots of sunscreen. With these precautions nothing can go wrong at the beach.