How is Bioluminescence Employed By Humans and in NaturePatrick JohnsiMedPub
Animals that use their sense of sight to navigate generally have a hard time getting around withoutlight. Some, like owls, have very largeeyesthat they use to collect lots of light. They also use their other senses to gather information about their surroundings. Humans, on the other hand, h...
Magnetic field - The earth has a magnetic field that's usually undetectable to humans who aren't holding a compass. Some animal species do have the ability to detect the magnetic field, however, and they use it to make their migrations. Bats and sea turtles use magnetic information to find...
What else do you think of when you think of bioluminescence? Our friend the firefly of course. Here's Photinus pyralis posing on a soy bean plant. Gail Shumway/Getty Images Another way to make photons, known as chemiluminescence, involves chemical reactions. When these reactions occur in li...
Almost all animals have eyes to sense light in their environment – even in dark habitats such as the deep ocean, where the only source might come from the odd burst ofbioluminescence. The weirdest eyes in the animal kingdom: From creepy to cute, here are the eyes that take ordinary to ...
Magnetic field - The earth has a magnetic field that's usually undetectable to humans who aren't holding a compass. Some animal species do have the ability to detect the magnetic field, however, and they use it to make their migrations. Bats and sea turtles use magnetic information to find...
Bioluminescence Lightning bugs convert chemical energy into light energy using two key ingredients: the chemical luciferin and oxygen, in a special form called superoxide anion. Thisbioluminescent "cold" lightproduction process is highly efficient as heat is not a byproduct. In some species, it's ...
Lightning bugs, or fireflies, belong to the scientific family Lampyridae. These omnivorous invertebrates only live for about two months – but those two months are bright ones. The nocturnal, winged beetles get their names from their bioluminescence, or glow. Below the abdomen, each lightning bug...
What else do you think of when you think of bioluminescence? Our friend the firefly of course. Here'sPhotinus pyralisposing on a soy bean plant. Gail Shumway/Getty Images Another way to make photons, known aschemiluminescence, involves chemical reactions. When these reactions occur in living org...
Furthermore, studies using bioluminescence resonance energy transfer (BRET) to distinguish the conformation of NLRP3 showed that ablation of RACK1 attenuates the transition of NLRP3 from its "closed" resting state into an "open" conformation in response to nigericin. The conformational changes in ...