Thomas Edison is one of the world’s great scientists and he created the light bulb which has become indispensible to modern life. Today, millions of these bulbs work together to illuminate street lights, cars, businesses and homes. Yet in nature there has always been creatures that amazingly produce light.

One of the best-known luminous creatures is the firefly. Scientists have spent years of research trying to produce a light as efficient as the light produced by fireflies. A firefly produces light within its body yet it has no bulb! Fireflies achieve maximum efficiency and lose almost no energy. It does not use electricity but posseses a more advanced technology. It is far more effective than a bulb. A bulb turns 10% of the energy it receives into light with the other 90% turning into heat and disappearing. The firefly produces almost 100% light from its energy.

Light production in fireflies is due to a type of chemical reaction called bioluminescence. This process occurs in specialised light-emitting organs, usually on a firefly’s lower abdomen. The enzyme luciferase acts on luciferin in this organ to stimulate light emission. They produce a kind of light called “cold light” and their body structures are designed accordingly.

Fireflies flash their lights to recognise one another or to give mating signals. They use different lengths of flashes according to their species. In some species, it is the male who flashes first to attract the female, while in other species, the females do the “calling.” Some fireflies use their lights in self-defense. They flash to warn enemies that their taste is unappetising. Fireflies use this light to communicate much like we have used Morse Code. The male and female communicate using the same code so that they can come together. How did they learn to do this? It is evidence of design by an intelligent creator. It is not possible for complex organs capable of producing light to develop by accident or by coincidence and yet not harm the creatures of which they are part in the process.

Categories: Animals