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Light of my life--messages in the dark
1Department of Biology, Institute of Arctic Medicine, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland. vmr@cc.oulu.fi
Biologist (London, England)
|August 18, 2001
Abstract:
Luminescent lures, counter-shading in the dark blue sea, flashes of light intensive enough to temporarily blind a predator, love fireworks in the night to impress a mate, and toadstools that glow to attract parasitic wasps--these are just some of the many examples of bioluminescence at work in Nature. But how is the biological light produced? What are its evolutionary roots? Why are there so many different uses for the light?