A Beautiful Planet calls Earth's atmosphere "a delicate cocoon of air that shields us from our star's radiation." Of course, the atmosphere doesn't completely block electromagnetic radiation from the Sun; without some sunlight reaching the surface, plants could not harvest the Sun's energy, and practically no life as we know it could exist. The atmosphere's ozone layer does filter out much of the harmful ultraviolet light (or "UV rays") produced by the Sun. UV rays can cause skin cancer, and catastrophic damage to the ozone layer may have contributed to Earth's most extensive mass extinction of species ever, the End-Permian extinction (also known
Song to the Sun Song to the Sun Song to the Sun, known in Japan as , is a movie directed by Norihiro Koizumi starring the Japanese artist and singer Yui. In the movie, she plays the role of Kaoru Amane (雨音 薫 "Amane Kaoru"), a 16-year-old girl who has the rare skin condition xeroderma pigmentosum (XP), a disease that makes the ultraviolet radiation of sunlight potentially lethal to her. Yui's character is partly based on herself, as she is a singer and guitarist, and she performs three of Yui's songs in the movie; "It's Happy Line", "Good-bye Days" and "Skyline". There has been