bioluminescence

Analysis of data from a new satellite sensor helps researchers detect large patches of bioluminescence in the oceans faster than ever before.

More and more people are traveling around the world to watch the luminous displays of fireflies, but tourism-related light pollution and habitat degradation threaten to snuff out the insects at some locations.  

Rather than making its own light, a shallow-water marine fish gets all the tools that it needs for bioluminescence production from eating tiny, glowing crustaceans.

The bioluminescent Anomalops katoptron can coordinate its schooling behavior after dark. 

Sea fireflies spew a mucus with a chemical glow to lure mates and avoid being eaten.

Inhalable particles carrying mRNA make mouse lungs glow.

Bats use both echolocation and vision to avoid eating unpleasant fireflies.

Each year, bioluminescent microorganisms create striking displays on the beaches of San Diego.

Researchers engineered a system for bioluminescent imaging that is as much as 1,000 times stronger than existing methods.

A study of 13 starfish species reveals that even animals that live at depths where sunlight doesn’t reach have functioning eyes.

Scientists infuse plants with the luminescence of fireflies. 

Thanks to the bioluminescent bacteria inhabiting its light organ, the vividly colored southern bobtail squid (Euprymna tasmanica) can glow in the dark. 

Glowing cells mark the routes of tumor spread by way of newly formed lymph vessels. 

Pea plant (Pisum sativum) roots that have been inoculated with engineered Rhizobia bacteria glow in the presence of certain proteins. 

The bioluminescent mushroom, Neonothopanus gardneri, glows green when luciferase enzymes interact with luciferin molecules, triggering a chemical reaction that releases light.

Fish evolved to make their own light at least 27 times, according to a study.

Whole-animal, light-based imaging of infected small mammals

Harvard biochemist J. Woodland Hastings, who first theorized about quorum sensing in the late 1960s, succumbed to pulmonary fibrosis last week at age 87.

Fish with complex light-emitting photophore patterns may be primed to split into new species.