https://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Bioluminescence, the ability of living organisms to emit light, is a fascinating phenomenon observed in various life forms, including deep-sea fish, glowing mushrooms, and fireflies. Fireflies have long captivated people with their enchanting light displays, sparking scientific curiosity. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-cretaceous-fireflies-reveal-early-evolution.html Evolution Paleontology & Fossils Thu, 26 Sep 2024 10:01:04 EDT news646563662 Fireflies rely on flashing signals to communicate to other fireflies using light-emitting lanterns on their abdomens. In fireflies of the species Abscondita terminalis, males make multi-pulse flashes with two lanterns to attract females, while females make single-pulse flashes with their one lantern to attract males. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-spider-exploits-firefly-lure-prey.html Plants & Animals Ecology Mon, 19 Aug 2024 11:00:01 EDT news643274761 On a muggy July evening, Delaware state biologist Jason Davis is doing what kids have done for ages: Trying to catch a firefly. It's nowhere near as easy as the summer evenings of his own childhood, with only a few in this large wetland between a bay and the Atlantic Ocean. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-flickering-summer-fireflies-important-small.html Ecology Wed, 24 Jul 2024 04:10:01 EDT news641012908 For many who grew up east of the Mississippi River, yellow twinkling lights punctuate magical childhood memories. New England natives call them fireflies, but they're known as lightning bugs from the Midwest to the South. No matter their regional name, they are a staple of warm summer evenings. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-climate-threatens-firefly-populations-midwest.html Plants & Animals Ecology Mon, 15 Jul 2024 09:30:02 EDT news640254274 Owen Martin steps carefully through the knee-high grass growing up around a long-abandoned railroad track near Sawhill Ponds in Boulder, Colorado. It's almost pitch black out. The sun set 45 minutes ago, and the only light now comes from the distant buzz of cars on Valmont Road. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-colorado-fireflies.html Plants & Animals Ecology Fri, 12 Jul 2024 12:34:33 EDT news640006464 They glow like fading stars and have made memories of shimmering summertime backyards for generations. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-lightning-bugs-threatened-species.html Plants & Animals Ecology Mon, 08 Jul 2024 09:20:02 EDT news639648294 The leading hypothesis for the origin of firefly lights has been overturned by a genomic analysis. It had been posited that the bright lights emitted by many species in the Lampyridae family of beetles—better known as fireflies—first evolved as a warning signal to predators, advertising the toxicity of fireflies, and were then repurposed as a mating signal. This explanation would account for why eggs, larvae, and pupae also glow. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-illuminate-evolution-firefly.html Evolution Molecular & Computational biology Tue, 25 Jun 2024 08:55:18 EDT news638524512 Proba-3 is ESA's—and the world's—first precision formation flying mission. A pair of satellites will fly together relative to the sun so that one casts a precisely-controlled shadow onto the other, to create a prolonged solar eclipse in orbit. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-video-eclipse-satellite-proba.html Space Exploration Planetary Sciences Wed, 12 Jun 2024 16:10:06 EDT news637427174 A study conducted by the University of Kentucky Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment; Bucknell University; Penn State University; and the USDA has shed light on the precarious situation facing firefly populations across North America. The study's results identified multiple factors impacting their numbers, offering a deep dive into how shifting environmental and human factors influence these iconic insects. https://phys.org/news/2024-04-comprehensive-unveils-multiple-threats-north.html Plants & Animals Ecology Mon, 29 Apr 2024 11:32:29 EDT news633609144 Two bio-researchers, one with Huazhong Agricultural University, the other the Firefly Conservation Research Center, both in China, have identified the key transcription factors that regulate the development of light organs and bioluminescence in the firefly. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-transcription-factors-bioluminescence-firefly.html Plants & Animals Molecular & Computational biology Fri, 08 Mar 2024 11:10:01 EST news629115007 The gigantic galaxies we see in the universe today, including our own Milky Way galaxy, started out far smaller. Mergers throughout the universe's 13.7 billion years gradually assembled today's massive galaxies. But they may have begun as mere star clusters. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-jwst-milky-galaxy-early-universe.html Astronomy Wed, 21 Feb 2024 13:41:03 EST news627745261 A Curtin University-led research team has found a way to synthetically create a firefly's glow that could have positive impacts on the access to medical light-imaging tools used to detect tumors and other diseases. https://phys.org/news/2022-10-firefly-implications-medical-imaging-tools.html Biochemistry Thu, 27 Oct 2022 09:53:27 EDT news586083205 A new aerospace company reached orbit with its second rocket launch and deployed multiple small satellites on Saturday. https://phys.org/news/2022-10-firefly-aerospace-orbit-alpha-rocket.html Space Exploration Sun, 02 Oct 2022 06:05:05 EDT news583909501 A privately designed, unmanned rocket built to carry satellites was destroyed in an explosive fireball after suffering an "anomaly" off the California coast during its first attempt at reaching Earth's orbit. https://phys.org/news/2021-09-rocket-terminated-fiery-explosion-pacific.html Space Exploration Fri, 03 Sep 2021 18:09:26 EDT news549911363 A trio of researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder, has found the secret to fireflies flashing in unison: interacting locally through an active network of visual connections. In their paper published in the journal Science Advances, Raphael Sarfati, Julie Hayes and Orit Peleg, describe their study of the glowing insects in the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee and North Carolina, and what they learned about them. https://phys.org/news/2021-07-fireflies-interact-locally-network-visual.html Plants & Animals Fri, 09 Jul 2021 11:20:30 EDT news545048424 A new study at Tel Aviv University reveals a possible defense mechanism developed by fireflies for protection against bats that might prey on them. According to the study, fireflies produce strong ultrasonic sounds—soundwaves that the human ear, and more importantly the fireflies themselves, cannot detect. The researchers hypothesize that these sounds are meant for the ears of bats, keeping them away from the poisonous fireflies, and thereby serving as a kind of 'musical armor.' The study was led by Prof. Yossi Yovel, Head of the Sagol School of Neuroscience, and a member of the School of Mechanical Engineering and the School of Zoology at the George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences. It was conducted in collaboration with the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology (VAST). The paper was published in iScience. https://phys.org/news/2021-04-fireflies-potentialprotective-musical-armor.html Plants & Animals Ecology Mon, 05 Apr 2021 10:37:29 EDT news536837842 Researchers from the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum, National University of Singapore, have discovered a new species of firefly from the last remaining freshwater swamp forest in Singapore. This is the first time since 1909 that a new species of luminous firefly has been discovered in Singapore—highlighting the need for continued biodiversity research, even in small, well-studied, and highly developed countries such as Singapore. https://phys.org/news/2021-03-species-firefly-singapore.html Plants & Animals Ecology Thu, 11 Mar 2021 10:04:09 EST news534679445 Firefly beetles rank among the world's most charismatic creatures, with luminous courtship displays that have now turned them into a popular attraction for wildlife tourists. In the first comprehensive review of firefly tourism, published in the journal Conservation Science and Practice, an international team of biologists led by a Tufts University researcher, reveal that an estimated 1 million people now travel each year to witness bioluminescent performances starring some two dozen firefly species around the world. https://phys.org/news/2021-03-firefly-tourism-flight.html Ecology Thu, 11 Mar 2021 03:32:21 EST news534655934 Habitat loss, pesticide use and, surprisingly, artificial light are the three most serious threats endangering fireflies across the globe, raising the spectre of extinction for certain species and related impacts on biodiversity and ecotourism, according to a Tufts University-led team of biologists associated with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. https://phys.org/news/2020-02-fireflies-extinction-threats-habitat-loss.html Plants & Animals Ecology Mon, 03 Feb 2020 12:00:01 EST news499935592 The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced today it will move forward with considering Endangered Species Act protection for the Bethany Beach firefly and Gulf Coast solitary bee. https://phys.org/news/2019-12-delaware-firefly-gulf-coast-bee.html Plants & Animals Ecology Thu, 19 Dec 2019 09:10:04 EST news495967961 Peering through the darkness under the faint light of a peach-colored moon, wildlife biologist Jason Davis spots a telltale green flash in the bushes. https://phys.org/news/2019-08-endangered-sought-firefly-double-green.html Ecology Fri, 02 Aug 2019 13:00:01 EDT news483969096 Fireflies flash not just for sex, but survival, a new study suggests. https://phys.org/news/2018-08-fireflies-awful.html Plants & Animals Wed, 22 Aug 2018 16:05:16 EDT news454172587 Picture a moonless June evening, shortly after midnight, deep in a northwestern Pennsylvania forest. Wild sounds echo gently. Stars glow far above through the canopy of trees. Otherwise it is dark—so very dark. https://phys.org/news/2018-06-travellab-forest-trail-synchronous-fireflies.html Plants & Animals Wed, 20 Jun 2018 11:14:55 EDT news448712088 Fireflies are the flashy stars of the insect world. At night, you can see them coming because each little bug shines like a lamp – and, appropriately, they belong to the beetle family Lampyridae. https://phys.org/news/2018-02-fireflies-femme-fatales-survival.html Plants & Animals Wed, 07 Feb 2018 10:30:02 EST news437221065 Fireflies, frogs, jellyfish, mushrooms and even parrots have the ability to emit light from their bodies. These creatures use either bioluminescence or fluorescence to put on their light shows. https://phys.org/news/2017-08-animals-video.html Other Mon, 14 Aug 2017 10:50:02 EDT news421924337 Female fireflies have long known that the best romances are with a male firefly who offers the most nourishing and largest "nuptial gift" - a protein-packed capsule of sperm that is rich with egg-producing and life-extending nutrients for the female. https://phys.org/news/2016-12-firefly-gift-giving-composition-nuptial-gifts.html Plants & Animals Thu, 22 Dec 2016 05:00:03 EST news401604412 If a bug has ever had charisma, it's a common eastern firefly, flitting in the night. https://phys.org/news/2016-08-effects-artificial-fireflies.html Plants & Animals Thu, 04 Aug 2016 07:01:42 EDT news389512887 (Phys.org)—Many insects, birds, fish, and amphibians emit light as a way to communicate with each other, but the species that produces light most efficiently is the firefly. In a new study, researchers have investigated the optical properties of the firefly's light-emitting cuticle, which is not smooth like most human-made lights, but instead is patterned with tiny hierarchical structures. Inspired by these features, the researchers replicated the patterns to create a bioinspired organic light-emitting diode (OLED), resulting in a 60% increase in the light extraction efficiency and 15% wider angle of illumination. https://phys.org/news/2016-04-scientists-fireflies-oled-efficiency.html Nanophysics Wed, 20 Apr 2016 09:30:01 EDT news380361959 Now we know how fireflies get their glow going. https://phys.org/news/2015-08-firefly.html Biochemistry Tue, 04 Aug 2015 09:20:02 EDT news357893235 Warm summer nights wouldn't be complete without the beautiful glow of fireflies. But until recently, we didn't really understand how fireflies produced their glow. Now Bruce Branchini, Ph.D., from Connecticut College and colleagues at Yale University have recreated the firefly's glow in the lab. This bright discovery, published in a recent issue of the Journal of the American Chemical Society, could have exciting applications in medicine. https://phys.org/news/2015-07-video-fireflies.html Plants & Animals Tue, 21 Jul 2015 10:44:19 EDT news356694227