Nature’s own bright light bulbs were born long before the dinosaurs

Lucian day, the celebration of light, coincided with the darkest December on record in the south. On Friday, the sun shone properly in Helsinki for the first time in two weeks.

In nature, many creatures have developed their own bright light bulb. With the help of a miraculous biochemical reaction, the creatures can produce light in pitch darkness, even in the dark depths of the sea.

The most familiar of nature’s flickers are certainly glowworms, which dance in the summer night as bright points of light. With the lamp on her back, the female attracts lovers.

Phenomenon is called bioluminescence and is made possible by two substances called luciferase and luciferin. They react with oxygen and tune like a spring. When it clicks, a light particle, or photon, is created. Almost no heat is produced in the reaction, only almost pure light.

The names of these molecules that produce natural light come from the same root as the name of the maiden Lucia: in Latin, light is lux. Lucifer means “light bearer” and in Christianity also the devil himself.

The first light bulb was lit in nature more than half a billion years agosay researchers. Published last year in the study looked at the family trees of light-emitting organisms and came to the conclusion that such a light-producing biochemical reaction first evolved in a coral, about 540 million years ago.

Natural one of the most beautiful phenomena is the spray of water that is created by algae that glow in the dark.

The most well-known of the flares is a small armor expansion called a fire bladder, also known as a glomerulus. Its Latin name A sparkling nightingale means flickering night light. The phenomenon is mostly known from warm countries, but even in the Baltic Sea some armored algae shimmer with light.

Happily, evolution has not conjured reindeer with glowing noses, even though Petteri Punakuono is being sung about on the radio again. After all, humans already skillfully transfer genes from one organism to another. Maybe biological headlights could be tampered with in the reindeer’s muzzle from the genes of the anthelmintic algae?