WEBVTT - BrainStuff Classics: Why Do Scorpions Glow Under Black Light?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren vogel bomb here with a classic episode of the podcast.

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<v Speaker 1>This one is about the wonderfully strange phenomenon of scorpions

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<v Speaker 1>glowing green under black lights. Not velvet paintings of scorpions,

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<v Speaker 1>actual scorpions, Hey brain Stuff, Lauren vocal bomb here. Some

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<v Speaker 1>animals are just over the top. Take scorpions. Is it

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<v Speaker 1>not enough that these stinging arachnids can survive some of

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<v Speaker 1>the harshest climates in the world and live twenty five

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<v Speaker 1>times longer than your average cockroach? Or that some species

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<v Speaker 1>don't need males to reproduce and can live up to

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<v Speaker 1>forty eight hours without oxygen, and that all of them

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<v Speaker 1>will eat almost anything they can subdue, even other scorpions. No,

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<v Speaker 1>it's apparently not enough, because scorpions also glow electric cyam

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<v Speaker 1>green under ultraviolet light. Why they do this is a

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<v Speaker 1>bit of a mystery, but it makes them pretty easy

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<v Speaker 1>to study. All a scorpion researcher has to do to

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<v Speaker 1>find scorpions is go out into the desert at night

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<v Speaker 1>with a black light and watch those suckers light up

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<v Speaker 1>like Christmas trees. Chemically speaking, Nobody.

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<v Speaker 2>Is exactly sure what causes scorpions to glow, but we

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<v Speaker 2>know its powerful stuff. When a scorpion is preserved in alcohol,

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<v Speaker 2>the alcohol itself will fluoresce. Scorpion fossils have even been

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<v Speaker 2>induced to glow under black light after hundreds of millions

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<v Speaker 2>of years. What we do know is the chemicals that

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<v Speaker 2>make a scorpion so rave ready are in the outer layer,

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<v Speaker 2>or cuticle, of its exoskeleton. Scientists call it the highland layer.

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<v Speaker 2>Scorpions molt their exoskeleton every so often in order to grow,

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<v Speaker 2>and researchers have observed that until the slightly mushy outer

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<v Speaker 2>shell has entirely hardened, the highlind layer does not fluoresce

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<v Speaker 2>under UV light. This is all pretty weird. Why would

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<v Speaker 2>an animal evolve to glow under ultraviolet light? Researchers have

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<v Speaker 2>posited a bunch of different ideas. Scorpion fluorescents might help

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<v Speaker 2>them find each other in the dark, protect them from sunlight,

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<v Speaker 2>or even confuse their prey. But there's another promising theory

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<v Speaker 2>that scorpions are somehow using their fluorescence to detect UV light,

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<v Speaker 2>mostly because they want to avoid it. They're night hunters,

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<v Speaker 2>after all, and a scorpion will always find the darkest

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<v Speaker 2>place to hang out during the day or even in

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<v Speaker 2>the moonlight. A study published in the Journal of Arachnology

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<v Speaker 2>in twenty ten tested normal fluorescing scorpions and a group

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<v Speaker 2>of scorpions that they had reduced the fluorescence of with

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<v Speaker 2>prolonged exposure to UV light. The normal scorpions then reacted

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<v Speaker 2>more strongly and negatively to UV light than the desensitized scorpions.

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<v Speaker 2>But wait, you might be thinking. Scorpions still have eyes,

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<v Speaker 2>and as it turns out, they can visually see light

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<v Speaker 2>within the ultraviolet part of the spectrum, but it doesn't

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<v Speaker 2>seem like the scorpions were reacting visually. A separate study

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<v Speaker 2>published in Animal Behavior in twenty twelve basically blindfolded a

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<v Speaker 2>group of scorpions and found that the critters still reacted

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<v Speaker 2>to the presence of ultraviolet light. So it seems that

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<v Speaker 2>they're using their entire bodies as giant UV seeking eyeballs,

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<v Speaker 2>and that if they sense that they're glowing at all,

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<v Speaker 2>it's time to scurry off somewhere darker. Today's episode is

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<v Speaker 2>based on the article why scorpions glow under black Life

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<v Speaker 2>on how stuffworks dot com. Written by Jesslinshields. Brain Stuff

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<v Speaker 2>is production of iHeartRadio in partnership with how stuffworks dot Com.

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<v Speaker 1>And is produced by Tyler Klang. Four more podcasts my

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<v Speaker 1>heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

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