REMINDER...
If you are planning on bringing in a sample chemical for the lab final it needs to be brought in on Monday. If you forget you'll get stuck with my samples (which isn't necessarily a bad thing). Was someone going to bring in one of those glow-in-the-dark necklaces? I hope so!
6 comments:
When are we going to start the lab?
Monday we start
Okay. Thank you.
Is it a chemical that makes a lightening bug glow? I love to see my first one in the summer. Anyone seen one yet? msb
They glow in the dark as part of a
communication system they use to find mates. The female waits and flashes at
flying males. The males flash back and try to find the right species females.
The temporal and spatial pattern of the light flashes confer species
specificity - usually. Biology is a case in exceptions. There is one species
of firefly whose females flash in many different ways to attract other species
males. When the wrong species male arrives, he is eaten! Gives new meaning
to not believing everything you see. As to how they glow: they use two
chemicals called luciferin and luciferase. The luciferase is an enzyme, a
protein catalyst which is not consumed in its reaction with luciferin. The
luciferin changes chemically and gives off light. Whenever an electron drops
an energy level (a quantum leap) in a molecule, it gives off a photon of
light.
Info found on http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/newton/askasci/1993/biology/bio048.htm
Wow...I knew different species had different signals but I didn't know that those that made a mistake got eaten. One more example of how much power femals ave in the natural world.
Post a Comment