Living Lights: Bioluminescence And Biofluorescence

Did you know 75 percent of animals in the ocean glow?

From single-celled organisms to terrifying creatures like the anglerfish in the Pixar movie “Finding Nemo,” living things bring light to the darkest depths of our world.

This hour—why do so many creatures create their own light?

We’ll learn the differences between bioluminescence and biofluorescence.

And what happens when you take the glow out of the ocean and into the lab?

We’ll hear how scientists harness certain proteins from sea creatures and fireflies to illuminate everything from sleep to human diseases.  

What can glowing cells teach us about our own bodies?

Edie Widder talks about bioluminescence in her TED Talk

We meet Edgar, the GFP axolotl

GUESTS

• Dr. Edie Widder - CEO and Senior Scientist of the Ocean Research and Conservation Association
• Dr. Marc Zimmer - Professor of Chemistry at Connecticut College in New London and author of Illuminating Disease: An Introduction to Green Fluorescent Proteins
• Dr. Carl Johnson - Professor of Biological Sciences at Vanderbilt University

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired on December 21, 2017.