Illuminating the Life of a Firefly: How & Why Does a Firefly Glow?

Once summertime arrives, you will be able to see many bright lights in the night sky, but I’m not talking about some big event in the cosmos, like shooting stars, the Northern lights, or a Venus-Jupiter conjunction. Instead, I’m talking about a much smaller scale – tiny little creatures called fireflies.

Fireflies are able to illuminate themselves and the area around them by lighting up there bodies. Wouldn’t it be cool if humans could also glow like fireflies, particularly if we ever got lost in the dark?

Oh, fireflies! How beautiful and lucky you are! Fireflies have a constant source of light within their body and they don’t even have to worry about paying their electricity bills.

How Fireflies Light Up Their Bodies

The secret trick by which fireflies are able to light up all starts in their abdomen. Fireflies contain a special light-emitting compound in their abdomen calledluciferin. When luciferin and a particular enzyme, luciferase, react with oxygen, a chemical reaction occurs.  This reaction releases energy in the form of light, thereby lighting up the firefly’s body. The wavelength of light emitted by fireflies is in the range of 510-670 nanometers (pale yellow to reddish-green).

Firefly (Credits:Tyler Fox/Shutterstock)

The light generated by a firefly is called “cold light”, as the heat generated is very minimal. This is good for the firefly, as its body would not be able to survive if it generated heat like a light bulb. The process through which fireflies light up their bodies is called bioluminescence. A firefly is not the only creature who has this ability, however; many other organisms, mostly sea and marine organisms, can also produce their own light.

Why Do Fireflies Light Themselves Up?

Fireflies, unlike most other animals boasting bioluminescence, can turn its light on and off, but why does a firefly keep on flickering on and off? What could be the advantage?

Let’s find out!

Credits:Suzanne Tucker/Shutterstock

Although it’s not exactly clear how fireflies are able to switch their lights on and off, scientists believe that they are able to control their bioluminescence by regulating the flow of oxygen into their abdomen. They do this by sending signals from their brain to a special light-emitting organ in their abdomen.

Fireflies come into the world as larvae already knowing how to glow and they start lighting up the world from birth. The bioluminescence, though, serves different purposes in larvae and adult fireflies. In larvae, the main purpose of glowing is to avoid predators. Fireflies contain a nasty-tasting chemical calledlucibufagens, which can be pretty toxic to predators. Therefore, when a firefly glows, the predator realizes that it’s going to unleash those nasty toxic chemicals and moves on to find a different meal.

Firefly Larvae

In adult fireflies, however, the firefly glow serves other purposes apart from avoiding predators: finding mates and attracting prey. 
You must have had that feeling of an electric current passing through your body, as though you’re being lit up after seeing a beautiful girl. Well, the same thing is true in fireflies, except they light up for real! Female fireflies like flashy males, so the males, in order to impress their ladies, light themselves up in the hopes that they’ll find a good dance partner 


 
Another reason why these creatures light up is decidedly less romantic. Some female fireflies light up to lure prey towards them; the flash of light happens in the blink of an eye, and before the prey can react, the firefly would have done his job and secured his next meal.

As we now see, it turns out that fireflies blinking at light is not some unexplained natural phenomenon; there is far more to it. Nature amazes us with so many beautiful creatures, and I think that fireflies, in particular, can teach us a thing or two about letting the light inside of us shine out in even the darkest times!

What Makes A Butterfly’s Wings So Colorful?

When many people think of a garden or a park, part of the image in their head will surely be butterflies flitting from one plant to another. The main reason that everyone is so fond of butterflies is because of the brilliant colors of their wings.
 How exactly do butterflies manage to do this? Let’s explore the two main qualities a butterfly wing possesses that gives it it such a striking color.

Pigmentation

One of the sources of those amazing colors on a butterfly wing is pigmentation.

This pigmentation is responsible for ordinary color. What do we mean by ordinary color? Basically, it means color that is unchanging, regardless of how you look at it. For example, the color of plant leaves is green, due to the pigment chlorophyll. This perception of ours of the leaves being green is because chlorophyll absorbs the light of every other wavelength, except green. This is why we see the colour green, since it is reflected back towards us. This color is going to remain green regardless of the angle at which you look at the leaves.

Credits:Bursasiu Dacian Ioan/Shutterstock

The same principle applies to butterfly wings, as they too contain coloring pigments, mainly melanin, which gives them the darker colors of yellow, brown and black. Melanin is the same coloring pigment present in human skin, which also gives our skin its distinctive color. See, butterflies and humans aren’t that different after all!

Iridescence

This is where the color of butterfly wings gets a bit more complex. The second source of their color is a fascinating phenomenon known as iridescence. In terms of iridescence, as you change your position with respect to the object, the color of the object also changes! Why does this happen, you may ask? Well, this occurs when light passes through a transparent surface with many different layers, and the light reflects off these many surfaces to give different colors of varying intensities, which change depending on the angle at which you look at it. A great example of this phenomenon can be seen in soap bubbles.

Credits:Cuson/Shutterstock

Butterfly wings are actually composed of many tiny transparent scales that contribute to iridescence. Therefore, depending on their exact structure, the wings will give off different colors of varying intensities. When light hits a butterfly wing, it goes through multiple layers of these scales, which are separated by air. This makes it reflect many times, and the combination of all these reflections gives the butterfly’s wings their iridescent color.

The most interesting aspect of a butterfly’s color, however, is when the two aspects of pigmentation and iridescence combine to create a unique color. An example of this is when you look at a butterfly with yellow pigmentation on its wings, but covered by structures that give off a red iridescent color; you will see an orange butterfly! This color may even change as the butterfly moves its wings (due to the iridescence, of course) to give off changing colors of yellow, red, orange and everything in between.

Credits:rickyd/Shutterstock

The colors of a butterfly’s wings are, without doubt, nature at its aesthetic best.

WHY DO "SNOWFLAKES" HAVE SUCH A FASCINATING SHAPE?

The mere mention of snowflakes induces a fuzzy warm feeling of the holidays, blankets, and lovely stretches of pure white snow. What could possibly be better than experiencing the feeling of soft snowflakes falling on your skin on a pleasant, brisk day. You’ve surely played with snowflakes at many times in your life, but have you ever stopped to wonder why they have those stunning, intricate shapes?

Snowflakes

A snowflake is an ice crystal, or an accumulation of ice crystals, that fall to the Earth from the atmosphere. These flakes begin their journey as snow crystals, and then develop gradually as supercooled microscopic cloud droplets freeze. Despite being made of ice, snowflakes generally appear white (due to the reflection of the entire spectrum of light by the small facets of the crystals).

Shape

Types of snowflakes

Snowflakes come in a seemingly endless variety of shapes and sizes. Some are simple and hexagonal-shaped, but others are much more complex in their shape. There are snowflakes that have intricate patterns and designs, which is why they appear so fantastic, particularly under a microscope. Due to their exposure to different atmospheric conditions, almost all snowflakes are unique.

Factors that Determine a Snowflake’s Shape

How snowflakes’ shape changes (Image Source: http://snowcrystals.com/)

Two factors play key roles in determining the shape of a snowflake: temperature and humidity.

Kenneth Libbrecht, Professor of Physics at the California Institute of Technology, made some extensive observations regarding snowflakes’ shapes in different atmospheric conditions. He observed that snowflakes formed below -22 degrees Celsius (-7.6 degrees Fahrenheit) have comparatively simpler shapes than those formed in warmer temperatures.

The other crucial factor is humidity. It has been seen that the most intricate patterns in snowflakes are formed when there is ample humidity in the air. On the contrary, however, drier air results in snowflakes with simpler designs.

Why Are Snowflakes That Particular Shape?

Snowflakes commonly display a hexagonal shape; in other words, they form based on six-fold radial symmetry. The reason for this can be assumed to be from the fact that the crystalline structure of ice is also six-fold. The six arms of a snowflake grow independent of the growth of the other arms, which is the reason why a snowflake is never absolutely symmetrical. The environment where a snowflake grows also undergoes continuous changes in its temperature and humidity. Furthermore, the clouds through which a snowflake passes do not have a uniform temperature and water content. These changes impact the way that water molecules (present in the atmosphere) become attached to the snowflake.

Popularity of the Symbol

 

Due to their exquisite design, snowflakes are immensely popular in various fields. For example, the symbol of a snowflake is often the seasonal image used around the time of Christmas. Making snowflakes out of folded paper is also quite a beloved activity among children. This symbol is generally used to represent winter, which is why it was widely used in Frozen, an animated movie that was released in 2013, which depicted a princess that possesses the power to create and mold ice.

Nature not only provides us with plentiful resources, but also some extremely beautiful objects, like snowflakes, which become a great source of inspiration for people with a predilection towards the creative arts. Aside from those people, however, snowflakes inspire awe and wonder in countless millions around the world!

Why Do Insects Always Go On A Suicidal Mission Towards A Glowing Light?

You’ve likely heard the phrase “drawn like a moth to a flame”, and immediately understood what the speaker meant. This phrase is obviously drawn from the habit of moths (and most other bugs) to fly towards any source of light.

 If you’ve ever sat near a bug-zapper on a warm summer night, you’ve undoubtedly heard a few dozen bugs fry themselves, and if you leave a window open at night, don’t be surprised if you wake up with some new insect friends in the morning!

This phenomenon is well known, but not necessarily understood… why is it that insects are so attracted to light?

A Manmade Problem for a Natural Instinct

While it may seem like the vast majority of bugs are slightly suicidal, given their penchant for “bee”-lining right into a light source, there are actually a number of scientific theories to explain this strange habit.

Phototaxis is a word you might not be familiar with, but it is the natural instinct to be affected by light sources (positive phototaxis means you are attracted to light, while negative phototaxis means you avoid light). For hundreds of millions of years, insects have evolved in some incredible ways, including the way that they navigate. At night, insects often use natural light sources, such as the moon and stars, to navigate through the world.

Moths, for example, have been found to follow the moon to stay upright, fly straight, and remain oriented. The moth will never reach the moon, of course, but the same isn’t true of artificial light sources. Therefore, when your back porch light is turned on, moths and other bugs are deceived, and fly directly into it with a satisfying sizzle.

Phototaxis isn’t a universal adaptation, and yet it seems like the majority of bugs are drawn by light, so a few other explanations have arisen over the years. Before artificial lights, nighttime meant darkness, which helped insects know when to rest and when to “work”. Artificial lights, however, may confuse insects into thinking that it’s daytime, and since light allows insects to avoid obstacles and hunt, they seek out the light source, not knowing that it will be the last thing they do. 

Does This Only Apply to Artificial Lights? What About Light Colors?

If you’ve ever walked outside at night in a white shirt, it wouldn’t be surprising if you came back inside with a few bugs latched onto the fabric. The reflective nature of light colors makes them similar to artificial light sources, which also leads to yet another theory about insects and light. Ultraviolet light and short wavelength colors are more attractive to insects, which may have to do with their feeding patterns. Flowers naturally reflect ultraviolet light, and for many insects, flowers are a key source of food. When your white t-shirt reflects light for all the insects of the night to see, they may just think you’re a tasty snack.

The reason that a definitive explanation for this insect behavior is still missing is because the tendency doesn’t quite make sense. For example, one of the best parts about natural selection is that it makes species smarter and more fit to survive. Considering that artificial light sources have been around for thousands of years, and they almost always spell death for insects, doesn’t it make sense that the deadly habit of dive-bombing candles and bonfires would have been “selected out” by now? Evolution does happen at a very slow pace, but such a universally deadly trend seems like it should be changing more rapidly, as smarter insects avoid lights, survive, and pass on their “wisdom” to their progeny.

There are numerous arguments on all sides, so presently, insects’ suicidal obsession with light remains something of a mystery. Who knows, perhaps in another few thousand years, insects will be able to tell the difference between artificial light and the stars in the sky, but until then, your bug-zapper will probably stay pretty busy!

The Power Of Foot Tapping Generates Power.

A Dutch designer Nathalie Teugels has created something really interesting. It is the first-ever chair that can convert kinetic energy into electricity thus allowing you to charge your smartphones and other devices. The chair has been named as MOOV. The idea of the chair was born out of Teugels’ own restlessness since childhood. She just could not sit still for any amount of time. She conceptualised about what could be done if someone’s hyperactivity could be utilised to produce power. 

To start the chair, the user must have to plug in a USB connector and sit down in order to activate the built-in sensors in the chair. Once the user has sat down, they must wiggle in their seat in order to create a power flow throughout the chair. This constant movement will motivate users to stay restless, thus creating enough power to charge up the device. Teugel points out: “This is a chair for people who have the habit of tapping their feet on the ground the whole time, or simply moving on the chair constantly.” This is the chair for those restless souls like Teugel. Though it is still unknown as to how much time it takes to charge a phone, it still is a novel way of producing and utilizing energy. The chair comes with a USB port and an extra battery pack that stores your energy all day, even if a device is not connected to it. So for all those restless souls out there, sit on the chair, tap your feet and MOOV your chair!

SCIENCE OF CAPTAIN AMERICA: What’s The Secret Of His Superhuman Strength?

Even in the league of Marvel superheroes, Captain America stands out as particularly unique. Not because he has a spangly blue costume and wields a shield with stars printed on top (although, that’s also hard to miss), but rather because he doesn’t have inherent ‘superpowers’, per se, like Thor, Wolverine, and Hulk, nor a powerfully weaponized suit of armor like Iron Man, to help him crush his enemies to a pulp. Instead, he’s just a human whose bodily functions have been incredibly enhanced to operate at their maximum capacity.

He’s vulnerable to sharp-edged weapons, regular bullets, and even the brute force of a punch (although that punch has to be pretty darn hard), just like any other “normal” human. This is probably one of the reasons why Captain America resonates with people, as people find him to be someone to whom they can relate.

But how are his bodily functions so enhanced? What’s the secret behind his extra agility, extra strength… and basically every other human ability with the prefix ‘extra’ or ‘super’ attached to it?

Super-Soldier Serum

The main secret behind Cap’s superhuman strength and endurance is the Super-soldier serum, which is a fictional concoction that has been used in the Marvel universe from time to time. It’s basically a homogeneous combination of ‘certain chemicals’ (that have not been named, obviously!) in the form of a liquid, exclusively prepared by a scientist named Abraham Erskine, code-named “Professor Reinstein”.

Once administered to a human body through a series of treatments involving both ingestion and injection, the body transforms itself both mentally and physically to operate at the peak of human performance, and perhaps even beyond that.

The super-soldier serum was formulated to create incredibly advanced super-soldiers during the time of the second World War to help lead the Allied Forces to a swift victory. Steve Rogers, aka Captain America, was selected as the first test subject for this formula as a part of “Operation Rebirth” due to his unparalleled courage and staunch patriotism for the country.

Vita-Rays

Image Source: marvel.wikia.com

Super-soldier serum certainly has the potential to exponentially increase human mental and physical strength, but it requires an altogether different system to stabilize it inside a human body at an accelerated pace. After having been administered the serum, Cap was put in a metallic chamber and bombarded with special rays that could do the trick. Referred to as Vita-rays (another ‘Marvel-only’ thing), these rays sped up the effects of the serum and stabilized them within Cap’s body.

Talking about the miraculous effects of these rays is one thing, but being exposed to them at 100% of their capacity in a metallic chamber is another. The transformation was a painful procedure, to be sure, but its results were textbook perfect!

Here’s a short clip of the transformation of Steve Rogers into Captain America. Take a look:

https://youtu.be/XxmHNTyL6B4 

Could there be a Captain America in real life?

All this talk about Captain America’s super agility, super strength and super endurance is all well and good, but is it possible to replicate such a mechanism in our world to create real-life super-soldiers?

As of now, we haven’t figured out a way to concoct a super-soldier serum, but looking at the effects that the serum produced on Cap’s mind and body, scientists have identified a number of genes that could be tapped to recreate such results in normal humans. Specific genes, such as those involved in improving the oxygen-carrying capacity of blood or increasing muscle mass, can be hyper-activated using certain techniques.

According to Sebastian Alvarado, a postdoctoral research fellow in biology at Stanford University, various genome-editing tools that we have today (like zinc finger nucleases, or CRISPR/Cas9 systems) can hyper-activate or deactivate certain genes to make a normal human body into one with the best possible (and practical) physical health. Such techniques can potentially make you more strategic, enhance your problem-solving skills, supercharge your reflexes and make you incredibly fast

A Need for Real Vita-rays

We do have, at present, techniques that can alter your genetic code and bestow you with certain superhuman features; what we still need is the Vita-rays, or the ‘scientifically and practically plausible’ version of Vita-rays, which could stabilize such genetic alterations in the human body.

 

Of course, such tests have not been carried out on humans in real life. The biological complexities and ethical considerations are yet to be worked out to pull this fantastic feat out of the Marvel universe and apply it in real life.

As far as making a real-life Captain Americas is concerned, the future does look bright. However, enhanced physical and mental muscles are not the only things that make one a superhero; the traits of one’s character are also key elements, and those, my friend, can never be altered by any super serum!