Fireflies, or lightning bugs, can make warm summer evenings feel magical, but there’s more than magic going on behind their bioluminescent light show. For the 2,000 species of fireflies around the globe, their energy-efficient flashes are actually complex communications that can both attract and repel — a “language of light” that we have yet to decode.
In this video from Science Friday, we find out what makes these beetles glow, learn more about how the time of evening can influence their activities, and get to see some of their unique flash patterns:
In the archives: more bioluminescence, more insects, more communication, more patterns, and more things that glow.
via Science Friday.
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