Original photo by h heyerlein/ Unsplash
Bioluminescence, the strange biology that causes certain creatures to glow, is usually found at the darkest depths of the ocean where the sun’s light doesn’t reach. While these light-emitting animals seem otherworldly, the trait is actually pretty common — in fact, you’re probably glowing right now.
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It's a fibWhile the anglerfish is perhaps the creepiest bioluminescent animal, the “largest” accolade belongs to the Dana octopus squid, with the biggest measuring some 7.5 feet long and weighing 130 pounds. Scientists think the squid uses its lights to blind prey in the dark ocean depths.
According to researchers at Tohoku Institute of Technology in Japan, humans have their own bioluminescence, but at levels 1,000 times less than our eyes can detect. This subtle human light show, viewable thanks to ultra-sensitive cameras, is tied to our metabolism. Free radicals produced as part of our cell respiration interact with lipids and proteins in our bodies, and if they come in contact with a fluorescent chemical compound known as fluorophores, they can produce photons of light. This glow is mostly concentrated around our cheeks, forehead, and neck, and most common during the early afternoon hours, when our metabolism is at its busiest. At such a low level, human bioluminescence likely isn’t an intentional product of evolution as it is for deep-sea fish, fireflies, and many other animals. And most other bioluminescent creatures rely on a compound called luciferin (Latin for “light bringer”) — which humans lack — for their light show. Fortunately, we have unique ways of making light that are all our own.
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In antiquity, ______ was the name given to Venus as the morning star at dawn.
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In antiquity, Lucifer was the name given to Venus as the morning star at dawn.
The man who discovered the glowing element phosphorus was trying to make gold using human urine.
German merchant Hennig Brand was a dedicated believer in alchemy, a pseudoscience that thought certain elements could be transmuted into gold using what was called a philosopher’s stone. In 1669, Brand focused his attention on turning distilled crystals from human urine into the precious stone. After stockpiling 1,200 fermented gallons of the stuff, he began boiling it. The astonishing result was a white, waxy residue that glowed in the dark, which Brand called phosphorus (Greek for “light bringer,” the equivalent of “lucifer”), and which more fearful folk called the “Devil’s Element.” Brand’s moment of discovery was immortalized in Joseph Wright of Derby’s painting “The Alchymist.” The discovery sparked a new era of chemistry and was one of the first new elements discovered by modern science. Brand never found his philosopher’s stone, but phosphorus wasn’t a bad consolation prize.
Darren Orf lives in Portland, has a cat, and writes about all things science and climate. You can find his previous work at Popular Mechanics, Inverse, Gizmodo, and Paste, among others.
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