Scientists have given mice a tan without exposing them to the sun, BBC reported.

They have developed a cream, which has not yet been tested on humans, that switches on the tanning machinery in skin cells.

The study, by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Children's Hospital Boston, is published in Nature.

The cream contains a small molecule that essentially mimics the process that occurs when skin cells are struck by ultraviolet light from the sun.

The breakthrough also raises the prospect of a new way to protect fair-skinned people from skin cancer caused by exposure to sunlight.

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