WEBVTT - How Fireflies and Lightning Bugs Work 0:00:01.480 --> 0:00:04.280 Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a production of I 0:00:04.360 --> 0:00:13.240 Heart Radio. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh 0:00:13.320 --> 0:00:16.440 Clark and there's Charles W. Chuck Bryant over there, and 0:00:16.480 --> 0:00:19.239 it's just the two of us, and we are here 0:00:19.280 --> 0:00:23.720 today to present a Stuff you Should Know about fireflies 0:00:24.079 --> 0:00:27.440 and lightning bugs, which are pretty much fun in the state. 0:00:28.680 --> 0:00:32.839 I assume you're a firefly guy, right, I'm both evascillate. 0:00:33.200 --> 0:00:41.080 I'm an I'm a vascillator. Really, I'll say it again, i'vacillate. Uh, 0:00:41.159 --> 0:00:43.080 that's weird. I don't I don't know many people that 0:00:43.320 --> 0:00:46.880 kind of interchange these. Well, I grew up in Toledo, 0:00:48.000 --> 0:00:50.160 and I think that's where I picked up lightning bug. 0:00:50.280 --> 0:00:53.120 And then down here in the South it's firefly. Right, 0:00:55.360 --> 0:00:57.800 you got a backwards son. Well, then I picked up 0:00:57.840 --> 0:01:00.560 firefly as a kid in lightning bug in the South. 0:01:00.640 --> 0:01:04.440 That's it. Then, Yeah, it's it's I mean, I'm obviously 0:01:05.040 --> 0:01:09.240 born and raised here forever. I just can't imagine saying fireflies. 0:01:09.280 --> 0:01:11.800 It's just seems very strange to me. Yeah, it makes 0:01:11.800 --> 0:01:15.960 you think of like um arsonists. No, it makes me 0:01:16.000 --> 0:01:19.600 think of brown Coats and the TV show Okay, sure 0:01:20.160 --> 0:01:22.759 that was a good TV show. Yeah, I mean that's 0:01:22.760 --> 0:01:27.160 a good thing to think about for sure. But yeah, 0:01:27.200 --> 0:01:30.280 that's the deal. Apparently in the South it's lightning bugs generally. 0:01:31.200 --> 0:01:37.360 I think firefly out west and northeast, and then midwest 0:01:37.400 --> 0:01:41.119 and south is lightning bug generally. Yeah, generally. I mean 0:01:41.120 --> 0:01:43.720 there's pockets here there of weirdos who call them other 0:01:43.800 --> 0:01:49.240 things like jack and stuff like that, but most people 0:01:49.560 --> 0:01:53.040 see fireflies and lightning bugs is like a synonymous and interchangeable. 0:01:53.400 --> 0:01:59.760 But apparently there's a group of firefly researchers that that differentiate. Um, 0:01:59.760 --> 0:02:02.800 we're they use fireflies is like the umbrella term for 0:02:02.920 --> 0:02:08.800 a few other categories. Right. Uh, there's the glow worm, 0:02:09.480 --> 0:02:12.240 of which the ladies don't have wings and they have 0:02:12.360 --> 0:02:15.760 a steady glow. They're they're big in the UK, huge 0:02:17.040 --> 0:02:22.000 like big in size or just popular popular popular is 0:02:22.000 --> 0:02:27.800 basically what I mean. They're like three ft long. Yeah. Uh. 0:02:27.840 --> 0:02:30.680 And then you've got your daytime dark fireflies, which this 0:02:30.880 --> 0:02:34.359 just get this out of here if you ask me, Yeah, 0:02:34.400 --> 0:02:36.959 they don't even have light. So I even throw the 0:02:36.960 --> 0:02:39.239 word firefly in there. They ruin it for everybody else. 0:02:39.320 --> 0:02:43.960 That's the problem with using genetics for taxonomy, you know, right. Uh, 0:02:44.040 --> 0:02:47.200 and then you've got your your flashing firefly, and that's 0:02:47.200 --> 0:02:48.959 what we're kind of talking about here, which is the 0:02:49.040 --> 0:02:52.760 lightning bug. Yeah, that's where it's interchangeable, the flash, flashing firefly, 0:02:52.919 --> 0:02:55.360 lightning bug, one and the same. And we're not going 0:02:55.400 --> 0:02:57.720 to be pedantic from this point on. But I felt 0:02:57.720 --> 0:03:01.200 like that was worth pointing out. You know, no, I agree, Well, 0:03:01.240 --> 0:03:03.639 we're going to be a little pedantic. Yeah, I guess 0:03:03.680 --> 0:03:08.560 you're right. I forgot because fireflies aren't flies. Lightning bugs 0:03:08.600 --> 0:03:11.560 aren't bugs. And this is there's quite a few little 0:03:11.720 --> 0:03:14.840 facts of the podcast that you can know. This is 0:03:14.840 --> 0:03:17.520 one of those, I think where people I don't know 0:03:17.560 --> 0:03:20.120 a lot about lightning bugs, so they can always delight 0:03:20.120 --> 0:03:22.160 their friends at their next backyard party by saying it. 0:03:22.280 --> 0:03:26.080 They're actually all beatles, that's right, And everybody would be like, what, 0:03:26.600 --> 0:03:30.880 Oh my god, you just won the party. Oh man, 0:03:31.000 --> 0:03:32.799 I haven't won a party in so long. It's been 0:03:32.800 --> 0:03:34.920 a while. I haven't been to a party, and so long, 0:03:34.960 --> 0:03:37.840 even long before the pan the pandemic, I stopped getting 0:03:37.840 --> 0:03:41.520 invited because you won too many parties. I guess I 0:03:41.720 --> 0:03:45.160 can't have it was like having some Moan Biles over 0:03:45.200 --> 0:03:49.880 for a gymnastics party. What. I don't get that one. 0:03:50.800 --> 0:03:55.160 The goat thing. I don't get the goat thing. She's 0:03:55.200 --> 0:03:58.480 the greatest of all time with the um, with the gymnastics. 0:03:58.480 --> 0:04:00.480 I'm saying I'm the greatest of all times with party 0:04:00.560 --> 0:04:03.080 winning with facts I was. I was. I have goats 0:04:03.080 --> 0:04:05.160 that live across the street and I literally just fed them, 0:04:05.200 --> 0:04:07.960 So my mind went to the animal. So I didn't 0:04:07.960 --> 0:04:10.680 get it. Yes, all all about Simone Bile. She's great. 0:04:10.880 --> 0:04:16.400 Take care of herself. I love it. Yeah, sure, um so, No, 0:04:16.680 --> 0:04:20.120 I'm sorry that sounded like I was ambivalent. I agree 0:04:20.160 --> 0:04:21.520 with you. I think it is because that she took 0:04:21.560 --> 0:04:24.919 care of herself. I agree to Well you said the first. 0:04:25.000 --> 0:04:30.919 Obviously you agree with yourself. Should we cut all that out? No, 0:04:31.080 --> 0:04:35.000 I think that's stuffy. Should know gold. We haven't had 0:04:35.080 --> 0:04:39.119 some weirdo exchange. Yeah, for a while. It's been a while, 0:04:39.839 --> 0:04:41.640 all right, Can we get back to lightning bugs? For 0:04:41.680 --> 0:04:45.599 the love of god? Uh, they're class Oh boy, here 0:04:45.600 --> 0:04:51.000 we go. I'm gonna say the order. Uh, Cooter, I 0:04:51.040 --> 0:04:54.160 think you just nailed it. You just won the pronunciation party. 0:04:54.680 --> 0:04:57.320 What you want to try the family. I've been trying 0:04:57.360 --> 0:05:01.039 to figure this out. I think it's lampirate A. I 0:05:01.040 --> 0:05:07.040 think that's about right because piro like fire like the bright. 0:05:07.440 --> 0:05:10.240 It could also be lampyra Day. It's one of those two. 0:05:10.240 --> 0:05:12.960 That's what I'm staking my claimant. I'm gonna vacillate between 0:05:13.279 --> 0:05:18.000 Lampyriday and Lampyriday all right, but all together in this 0:05:18.120 --> 0:05:23.200 order and family there are here in the North American continent. 0:05:23.680 --> 0:05:25.800 They're more than a hundred and seventy species and more 0:05:25.800 --> 0:05:30.000 than two thousand worldwide. And they're always discovering more specie. 0:05:30.160 --> 0:05:34.040 Not always, but they're still discovering Like every day. Uh, 0:05:34.080 --> 0:05:38.640 they're discovering more species, so that list grows and grows. Yeah, 0:05:38.720 --> 0:05:41.760 which is pretty cool, um, especially considering that they are 0:05:42.480 --> 0:05:46.320 dropping like flies as far as anecdotal evidence is concerned, 0:05:46.480 --> 0:05:50.200 including anecdotal evidence from me. Yeah, me too, which we'll 0:05:50.240 --> 0:05:54.240 get to very disappointing. So um, the thing about fireflies, 0:05:54.400 --> 0:05:56.600 since they're a beetle family, most of them are all 0:05:56.800 --> 0:05:59.120 winged beetles. Almost all of them are that, like you said, 0:05:59.200 --> 0:06:02.720 some like low worms are typically include females that don't 0:06:02.720 --> 0:06:05.000 have wings, but for the most part, they have wings, 0:06:05.200 --> 0:06:08.200 they fly around, and like winged beetles, they have certain 0:06:08.320 --> 0:06:16.479 parts um in particular the electria eletra eltra, I would 0:06:16.520 --> 0:06:19.560 say eletra or electra. Okay, And that is very cool 0:06:19.640 --> 0:06:24.520 little closure that like they're like bay doors that open 0:06:24.600 --> 0:06:28.320 and close on the back of the of the firefly 0:06:28.920 --> 0:06:31.720 to allow the wings to spread out to take flight. 0:06:31.880 --> 0:06:34.400 It's really neat. It's like a DeLorean. Yeah, it is 0:06:34.440 --> 0:06:37.560 a lot or like a like the test last uv 0:06:39.080 --> 0:06:42.440 Oh did they open like that? That's so showy. It's 0:06:42.480 --> 0:06:45.400 pretty cool, though, Man, what is it about those doors? 0:06:45.520 --> 0:06:48.400 I don't know, Yeah, I know. I also love the 0:06:48.400 --> 0:06:51.159 old Lamborghini ones would slide open ever since I was 0:06:51.240 --> 0:06:57.320 eight something about doors like that or just just tickle me. Uh. 0:06:57.360 --> 0:07:00.880 And they yes, those those encase the wing and protect them. 0:07:01.480 --> 0:07:05.279 And then they also have an encased head. It's called pronotum, 0:07:05.320 --> 0:07:08.960 and that's the covering over basically the entire head. So 0:07:09.000 --> 0:07:13.560 if you're looking on from a bird's eye view, you're 0:07:13.600 --> 0:07:16.600 just gonna see no, you're gonna see any face. Yeah, 0:07:16.640 --> 0:07:19.640 it's just like a like a protect covering. It's like 0:07:20.120 --> 0:07:22.480 you know, Jerry only from the Misfits. It's like that 0:07:22.520 --> 0:07:25.360 get up that he wears that covers the back of 0:07:25.440 --> 0:07:28.720 his neck and head. I don't think I've seen that. Yeah, 0:07:28.720 --> 0:07:30.800 and it has spikes, and I can tell you that 0:07:30.880 --> 0:07:34.480 you meet has been impaled briefly on one of those 0:07:34.520 --> 0:07:40.240 spikes that show that Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein invited us 0:07:40.280 --> 0:07:43.800 to Madison Square Cards. Yes, but it definitely caught our 0:07:43.840 --> 0:07:46.240 attention because those things are not for show man. The 0:07:46.280 --> 0:07:51.440 spikes are very pointy and their metal. Yes, okay, I 0:07:51.480 --> 0:07:53.880 didn't if it's like Guar and it's all like phone. No, 0:07:54.160 --> 0:07:57.840 it's it's like Guar was apparently doing like a model 0:07:57.920 --> 0:08:00.760 of what Jerry Only was wearing all these years. Yeah, 0:08:00.800 --> 0:08:03.760 all right, how big are these things? What did we 0:08:03.800 --> 0:08:07.800 settle on? I know you send an update because is 0:08:07.800 --> 0:08:10.880 that just because it was incorrect? Because seven sixteenths of 0:08:10.880 --> 0:08:12.920 an inch it makes no sense to anyone. Well, it 0:08:13.000 --> 0:08:15.840 said that they range in size from like seven sixteenths 0:08:15.880 --> 0:08:17.920 of an inch to nine sixteenths of an inch. I 0:08:17.920 --> 0:08:21.760 think that's specifically like the big Dipper firefly. Fireflies in 0:08:21.840 --> 0:08:25.160 general typically range from about a fifth of an inch 0:08:25.240 --> 0:08:29.520 to an inch, typically like five to twenty five millimeters, 0:08:29.600 --> 0:08:31.360 starting in about the size of a grain of rice, 0:08:31.400 --> 0:08:33.400 all the way up to an inch. But there's some 0:08:33.480 --> 0:08:37.160 that are like way bigger than that. Yeah, I mean 0:08:37.160 --> 0:08:38.800 they can be. There are some that can be as 0:08:38.800 --> 0:08:41.480 big as the palm of your hand. But um, you know, 0:08:41.840 --> 0:08:43.959 here in the United States is good old American ones. 0:08:44.000 --> 0:08:45.400 You know how big they are. They're about as big 0:08:45.440 --> 0:08:48.079 as a you know, as big as a fingernail, that's right. 0:08:48.160 --> 0:08:49.959 And when they fly around, they go do do do 0:08:49.960 --> 0:08:52.640 do do do do do do do do do dude, 0:08:53.040 --> 0:08:56.959 do do do do do do do. I'm gonna squirt 0:08:57.000 --> 0:08:59.679 some light on you and you and speaking of them, 0:08:59.679 --> 0:09:03.080 score lights. Just last thing about their body, the organ, 0:09:03.200 --> 0:09:05.440 the light organ in their abdomen or tail is called 0:09:05.480 --> 0:09:08.440 the lantern, which I think is love that. Yeah. So 0:09:08.480 --> 0:09:12.600 where do you find besides backyards in the suburbs, where 0:09:12.600 --> 0:09:16.920 do you find fireflies? Charles? Well, you can find them 0:09:16.920 --> 0:09:19.760 on any continent except, of course, Antarctica. I feel like 0:09:19.840 --> 0:09:23.679 we say that a lot, poor Antarctica. Um, they are 0:09:23.720 --> 0:09:27.360 going to be in tropical regions, temperate zones. You're gonna 0:09:27.400 --> 0:09:30.120 see them. Uh, it depends on what stage they're in. 0:09:30.520 --> 0:09:33.199 The stage that we all love, the adult stage. It's 0:09:33.200 --> 0:09:34.960 only a couple of weeks long when they're flying around 0:09:35.000 --> 0:09:38.920 and lightening up their bellies. Um. But mainly and we'll 0:09:38.960 --> 0:09:40.679 get to their life cycle. They spend most of their 0:09:40.679 --> 0:09:45.320 time as larva on the ground in on the forest floor, 0:09:45.840 --> 0:09:50.040 kind of near water, usually the larval stage. They look 0:09:50.120 --> 0:09:54.960 like little almost like little dinosaur caterpillars. They're really interesting 0:09:54.960 --> 0:09:57.199 looking and they look nothing like you would think if 0:09:57.200 --> 0:10:00.520 you're used to seeing like these fireflies fly around. Yeah, especially, 0:10:00.600 --> 0:10:04.120 I mean fireflies just seem so like mild mannered and 0:10:04.200 --> 0:10:07.000 almost kind of dopey to some extent when they're flying around. 0:10:07.000 --> 0:10:09.680 So now when they're in the rival stages, we'll see 0:10:09.720 --> 0:10:13.880 there holy terrors basically. But you know, they have like 0:10:14.280 --> 0:10:16.440 all sorts of different habitats. You can find them up 0:10:16.440 --> 0:10:19.959 in the southern provinces of Canada. You can find them 0:10:19.960 --> 0:10:24.160 in some arid areas as long as there is permanent water, 0:10:24.960 --> 0:10:29.560 you could conceivably have um firefly populations and even like 0:10:29.640 --> 0:10:33.760 just you know, perpetually moist areas too. It doesn't have 0:10:33.800 --> 0:10:36.080 to be like a pond or something, but moist, like 0:10:36.160 --> 0:10:41.679 real moist areas. Yeah, and you're gonna see them in 0:10:41.880 --> 0:10:46.959 the humid summer evenings generally. Uh, in the south, it 0:10:47.080 --> 0:10:48.960 can be hot all year long, so you can see 0:10:48.960 --> 0:10:52.679 them some in the fall as well. And uh some 0:10:52.800 --> 0:10:55.160 though like their outliers, Like you said, some of them 0:10:55.240 --> 0:10:58.360 are really super aquatic, and some of them like never 0:10:58.400 --> 0:11:01.000 come down from their trees. Uh. And these are the 0:11:01.000 --> 0:11:03.160 ones you know, of the two thousand species all over 0:11:03.160 --> 0:11:05.839 the world that we're talking about, right, And um, if 0:11:05.880 --> 0:11:09.520 you were looking for a firefly show, the best seasons 0:11:09.559 --> 0:11:12.320 that you're going to have firefly shows are after a 0:11:12.360 --> 0:11:15.240 warm wet spring, or even during a warm wet spring, 0:11:16.040 --> 0:11:20.199 and or after a mild winter because those larvae that 0:11:20.360 --> 0:11:24.320 live in those marty areas, Um, we'll have higher survival 0:11:24.440 --> 0:11:27.720 rates in a colder climate with a mild winter during 0:11:27.760 --> 0:11:31.120 the over wintering period. All right, I think that's a 0:11:31.160 --> 0:11:35.880 great set up. Sure, let's get Yeah, maybe we should 0:11:35.880 --> 0:11:39.520 take a break and reveal to everyone what the heck 0:11:39.520 --> 0:11:41.920 they're doing with those lanterns to begin with. Huh. I 0:11:41.960 --> 0:12:08.320 think so, all right, we'll be right back. Okay, Chuck, 0:12:08.360 --> 0:12:11.120 We're about to act as lucifer to all these people 0:12:11.160 --> 0:12:15.200 because we will be bringing light to understanding of how 0:12:15.640 --> 0:12:22.080 fireflies produce light using appropriately lucifer aise. Right, uh, and 0:12:22.160 --> 0:12:24.360 I guess we can go ahead. And since I promised 0:12:25.040 --> 0:12:27.960 a big reveal, they're doing all this to attract a mate. 0:12:27.960 --> 0:12:30.920 They're trying to get down in boogie with another lightning bug. 0:12:30.960 --> 0:12:33.720 That's why they're lighting up like that. Oh yeah, I'm sorry, 0:12:33.720 --> 0:12:35.920 I forgot about the reveal and the one and a 0:12:35.920 --> 0:12:42.400 half seconds between between your your cliffhanger and coming back. Yeah. 0:12:42.520 --> 0:12:44.360 I wonder if people think if we leave for a 0:12:44.400 --> 0:12:47.640 hundred twenty seconds, right and just go, you know, take 0:12:47.679 --> 0:12:49.560 a stretch or whatever, and we just sit there in 0:12:49.600 --> 0:12:56.120 silence for here, you won't let us talk. Um. So, yeah, 0:12:56.160 --> 0:12:58.320 they're lighting up to attract a mate. And what they're 0:12:58.320 --> 0:13:02.160 doing here, they have these specialized cells in their abdomen 0:13:02.720 --> 0:13:04.960 to make that lantern light up. And it contains, like 0:13:05.000 --> 0:13:09.240 you said, that chemical called lucifer in and it makes 0:13:09.280 --> 0:13:13.120 an enzyme called lucifer aise. If if you don't want 0:13:13.200 --> 0:13:16.199 to sound devilish about it, that would be a fine pronunciation. 0:13:16.400 --> 0:13:21.480 I like lucifer in and lucifer aise, But they need 0:13:21.559 --> 0:13:23.520 something else to write. They need oxygen to make that 0:13:23.559 --> 0:13:26.760 thing blaze. Yeah, that and a dinas scene triphosphate or 0:13:26.800 --> 0:13:31.080 a t P, which is that that chemically stored energy 0:13:31.120 --> 0:13:35.600 that's found in basically all cells of all life everywhere. Yeah, 0:13:35.800 --> 0:13:38.200 it's just kind of this ubiquitous thing that kind of 0:13:38.240 --> 0:13:41.640 makes it's what powers life. So when it all kind 0:13:41.640 --> 0:13:45.760 of combines where you have um oxygen and a t 0:13:45.960 --> 0:13:50.120 P and lucifer in and lucifer aise the enzyme that's 0:13:50.160 --> 0:13:56.960 produced by by luciferen um, this chemical reaction produces light. 0:13:57.080 --> 0:14:01.040 There's a couple of byproducts oxy lucifer in, an adena 0:14:01.160 --> 0:14:05.600 seen monophosphate, and then lights given off. And you would 0:14:05.640 --> 0:14:08.880 think like, okay, light and heat. Sure that's the chemical reaction, 0:14:08.960 --> 0:14:11.800 so it's going to produce some heat now, Absolutely not. 0:14:12.559 --> 0:14:15.160 Here's one of those facts of the podcast. In my opinion, 0:14:16.200 --> 0:14:19.960 they call the kind of light that fireflies produced, the 0:14:20.040 --> 0:14:24.920 kind of bioluminescence that fireflies produced um cold light because 0:14:25.000 --> 0:14:29.760 it is one efficient. No, none of that the energy 0:14:29.800 --> 0:14:32.240 released from that chemical reaction is lost to heat. It 0:14:32.360 --> 0:14:37.120 is all um. It just produces photons only. Yeah, and 0:14:37.200 --> 0:14:41.080 that's why children can let a lightning bug land on 0:14:41.120 --> 0:14:43.840 their finger and that little abdomen that lantern can light 0:14:43.960 --> 0:14:46.640 up on their finger and they don't go al and 0:14:46.760 --> 0:14:50.800 smash it. Yeah, try that with the sparkler. Don't do that. 0:14:50.800 --> 0:14:55.160 It doesn't work. The light is the actual light, and 0:14:55.200 --> 0:14:59.840 the wavelength is between five tin and six and seventy nanometers. 0:15:00.320 --> 0:15:04.080 It looks yellowish to me. It looks a little greenish. 0:15:04.560 --> 0:15:08.120 It's been described as reddish green, but it looks like 0:15:08.160 --> 0:15:12.640 a yellowish green to me. It depends on the I think, yeah, yeah, 0:15:12.640 --> 0:15:15.240 I think there's ones that even give off blue. Right. Yeah, 0:15:15.240 --> 0:15:19.000 there's some around Asheville called the blue ghost firefly, and 0:15:19.040 --> 0:15:21.240 from a distance they look blue, but up close, if 0:15:21.280 --> 0:15:24.120 you catch one and hold it in your hand, it, um, 0:15:24.160 --> 0:15:26.840 it's like a it's like a greenish thing. So it 0:15:26.880 --> 0:15:28.800 has something to do with the distance that makes it 0:15:28.800 --> 0:15:31.080 look blue. But I saw pictures of those things and 0:15:31.080 --> 0:15:33.200 I'm like, oh, I want to go see those one day. 0:15:33.760 --> 0:15:37.560 Asheville is a nice weekend trip. Sure, it's beautiful up there. 0:15:38.080 --> 0:15:43.400 Do you guys ever go up there? No? No, even 0:15:43.440 --> 0:15:45.160 a couple of years ago. It's it's great. Go to 0:15:45.240 --> 0:15:48.400 the what's it called the Big House? Sure, the who's 0:15:48.440 --> 0:15:52.520 its name? I don't know why I'm blanking. Yeah, But 0:15:52.560 --> 0:15:55.520 there's also like the mountains around their need and like 0:15:55.880 --> 0:15:59.040 the town itself has a lot of great restaurants, it 0:15:59.080 --> 0:16:01.240 look one for vegan food, you could do a lot 0:16:01.320 --> 0:16:06.840 worse than all or craft beer, homemade chocolate. Just don't 0:16:06.840 --> 0:16:13.040 go to the Built Moorehouse during Christmas. Well, I just 0:16:13.040 --> 0:16:17.280 think it's better non Christmas. Like the Christmas is so 0:16:17.760 --> 0:16:21.160 done there that I feel like it obscures a lot 0:16:21.200 --> 0:16:24.680 of the beauty of their Builtmore House. And that kind 0:16:24.720 --> 0:16:27.240 of Christmas stuff that they put up is not my style. 0:16:27.400 --> 0:16:30.760 It's just it's just a lot. Is it like the 0:16:30.760 --> 0:16:36.880 Belk style of Christmas? Yeah, ribbons, Yeah, I'm with It's 0:16:36.920 --> 0:16:38.600 not my thing. And the Built Moore stands on its own, 0:16:38.640 --> 0:16:40.640 it doesn't need all that garbage. But that's just my opinion. 0:16:40.960 --> 0:16:44.240 Like I like my Christmas gaudy. Plus you don't get 0:16:44.280 --> 0:16:47.600 the gardens that you would. Uh, it's just me. We 0:16:48.040 --> 0:16:50.040 made the big mistake of going there in Christmas one time. 0:16:50.160 --> 0:16:52.960 Never happened again. It was the worst mistake, was the 0:16:53.040 --> 0:16:59.720 worst and once with my car. Here's another uh cool 0:16:59.760 --> 0:17:03.320 fat of the show I think is that the lightning 0:17:03.320 --> 0:17:06.159 bugs all have gout, or they could very well have 0:17:06.280 --> 0:17:10.120 gout because those cells that make that light are riddled 0:17:10.160 --> 0:17:13.920 with uric acid crystals, just like you have as a 0:17:14.000 --> 0:17:16.320 human with gout. But they do it because they are 0:17:16.359 --> 0:17:19.920 crystals to reflect that light away from their little abdomen. Yeah, 0:17:20.080 --> 0:17:24.560 it's just like the lenses they used in Robert Agger's masterpiece, 0:17:24.640 --> 0:17:29.919 The Lighthouse. Yeah, oh boy, what a movie. I just 0:17:29.960 --> 0:17:33.640 wanted to slide a reference in. Uh. And in order 0:17:33.720 --> 0:17:35.840 to get that oxygen, we've been saying it needs oxygen. 0:17:35.840 --> 0:17:38.520 You're probably calling, how in the world do they get it? Uh, 0:17:38.560 --> 0:17:41.600 It is not just gathered through the air. It actually 0:17:41.600 --> 0:17:45.560 goes through a tube in the abdomen called the abdominal trichea, 0:17:45.640 --> 0:17:48.320 which is very interesting. Yeah, they're not exactly sure if 0:17:48.320 --> 0:17:53.240 fireflies are able to turn the supply of oxygen on 0:17:53.440 --> 0:17:56.000 or off. It's almost like how you it would inject 0:17:56.080 --> 0:18:00.320 fuel into a combustion engine. They are injecting oxygen into 0:18:00.359 --> 0:18:06.000 their lucifhrase engine um and producing light with it. But 0:18:06.040 --> 0:18:07.880 they don't know if they can use nerves to turn 0:18:07.920 --> 0:18:10.239 it on and off, or if they're just you know, 0:18:10.640 --> 0:18:14.280 subject to the whims of oxygen availability. We just don't 0:18:14.280 --> 0:18:17.360 know at this point. We just don't. Uh. And now 0:18:17.359 --> 0:18:19.959 here's how I understand this next bit and you can 0:18:20.000 --> 0:18:24.240 correct me if I'm wrong. But they use UM, this 0:18:24.320 --> 0:18:28.800 chemical reaction that happens in fireflies to produce that bioluminescence. Uh, 0:18:28.840 --> 0:18:30.679 they can use that. You know, we said the a 0:18:30.760 --> 0:18:34.400 T P, like every animal on the planet has a TP, 0:18:34.600 --> 0:18:36.879 but if you're if you have cell damage, maybe you 0:18:36.960 --> 0:18:39.600 might not have as much, or if it's disease, you 0:18:39.640 --> 0:18:43.760 may not have enough. And do they actually use this 0:18:43.840 --> 0:18:46.439 bioluminescence to inject in the cells to see if they 0:18:46.480 --> 0:18:49.560 get that glowy reaction that they're looking for. Yeah, they 0:18:49.640 --> 0:18:51.480 use it for that to make sure that the cells 0:18:51.520 --> 0:18:54.679 have an expected amount of a TP, to locate cells 0:18:54.760 --> 0:18:57.000 that don't have enough a TP, because that would suggest 0:18:57.000 --> 0:18:59.880 there's some sort of problem going on there. And then 0:19:00.160 --> 0:19:03.800 UM also they figured out how to attach the lucifer 0:19:03.880 --> 0:19:09.320 in gene to other genes using I believe crisper um, 0:19:09.359 --> 0:19:13.840 which ties into our optogenetics episode UM, where they're using 0:19:13.920 --> 0:19:16.480 like the light that's produced by this bioluminous and to 0:19:16.640 --> 0:19:20.800 turn on and off nearby jeans, which is nuts. But 0:19:20.880 --> 0:19:23.439 the thing the thing I saw that UM that this 0:19:23.880 --> 0:19:28.760 luciphrase was used for most abundantly especially in the twentieth century, 0:19:29.359 --> 0:19:33.680 was to detect spoilage in like food like milk, because 0:19:33.800 --> 0:19:37.040 if you had bacteria growing in your milk, if you 0:19:37.080 --> 0:19:40.080 added luciphrase, the milk would start to glow because the 0:19:40.640 --> 0:19:44.240 lucifhrase would interact with the A T P in those 0:19:44.280 --> 0:19:46.920 bacterial cells, and you would know you needed to pour 0:19:47.000 --> 0:19:50.640 some bleach in with your milk. Right, Oh, don't ever 0:19:50.680 --> 0:19:53.640 do that. Don't ever drink glowing milk, and don't ever 0:19:53.680 --> 0:19:56.199 pour bleach and drink it in anything. But apparently we 0:19:56.320 --> 0:20:00.040 humans have like no problems ingesting and working with a 0:20:00.240 --> 0:20:02.520 phrase it doesn't do anything bad to our bodies as 0:20:02.560 --> 0:20:05.959 far as right now, which is pretty interesting. Alright, so 0:20:06.000 --> 0:20:08.080 now we I know everyone's like, this is all great 0:20:08.160 --> 0:20:10.800 chemical reactions and stuff, but I would really love to 0:20:10.880 --> 0:20:13.880 talk about the sexy stuff because anytime we talk about 0:20:13.920 --> 0:20:16.440 animals and insects, we always get to talk about sexy stuff, 0:20:16.440 --> 0:20:19.120 which is a lot of fun. It's basically our only outlet, 0:20:19.920 --> 0:20:23.280 it really is, except when we you know, blush our 0:20:23.320 --> 0:20:25.879 way through episodes on puberty and stuff, or see a 0:20:25.920 --> 0:20:29.560 good pair of goal wing doors open up on a car, right, 0:20:29.680 --> 0:20:31.720 and of course puberty isn't sexy stuff. I hope that 0:20:31.760 --> 0:20:34.600 didn't come across the right. I think that was a 0:20:34.680 --> 0:20:39.040 good safe Uh So when they're flashing, like we said, 0:20:39.200 --> 0:20:41.840 it is, um, it is a mating ritual, and it 0:20:41.960 --> 0:20:46.080 is usually the male flashing their light high above the 0:20:46.119 --> 0:20:49.879 sky or high above the yard in the sky to 0:20:49.960 --> 0:20:52.440 show off to females who are on the ground kind 0:20:52.440 --> 0:20:56.440 of sitting around having a glass of wine and they're 0:20:56.440 --> 0:20:58.240 watching the light show and they're like, what do you 0:20:58.240 --> 0:21:00.720 think of that one, marge, And they're like, well, he 0:21:01.040 --> 0:21:04.280 looks okay, so let me flash back. And they'll flash back, 0:21:04.760 --> 0:21:07.720 and then the mail will see that and they'll say, hey, 0:21:07.920 --> 0:21:10.840 she just swiped. I don't know if it's left or right, 0:21:10.840 --> 0:21:13.959 but in the correct direction. And uh, let me go 0:21:14.000 --> 0:21:16.080 down and see if we can have a little party 0:21:16.119 --> 0:21:18.640 for the next few hours. Yeah, because that's how long 0:21:18.680 --> 0:21:21.560 they couple, And by couple, I mean like have sex. 0:21:21.600 --> 0:21:26.240 They stick together for like an hour or multiple hours, chuck, 0:21:26.359 --> 0:21:31.000 which is pretty impressive. Agreed. Um, Yeah, an hour to 0:21:31.080 --> 0:21:35.160 three hours. That's that's great. Good for them, right, I'm 0:21:35.160 --> 0:21:38.400 really happy for them. Uh. Here's the cool thing too, though, 0:21:38.520 --> 0:21:41.760 is each species has its own little blinkie pattern because 0:21:41.800 --> 0:21:45.159 they want to mate with the appropriate match and so 0:21:45.200 --> 0:21:48.240 they're gonna send out their blinkie pattern. Um. In some 0:21:48.280 --> 0:21:52.160 places around the world they are synchronous. I think Southeast 0:21:52.200 --> 0:21:57.919 Asia has the only like really really truly synchronous lightning bugs, 0:21:57.920 --> 0:22:00.240 and that they all blink in unison, which really must 0:22:00.280 --> 0:22:02.960 be cool to see. Yeah, and I guess the messages 0:22:03.040 --> 0:22:08.199 like come and get it all. It was like kind 0:22:08.240 --> 0:22:11.879 of in a creepy Children of the Damned right tone. 0:22:14.119 --> 0:22:17.400 Other places, I think they can synchronize, but they don't 0:22:17.400 --> 0:22:20.679 become like completely synchronous as a unit, right, No. I 0:22:20.720 --> 0:22:23.520 mean they will like in little localized areas and for 0:22:23.560 --> 0:22:26.199 a few seconds only. And you've probably seen this and 0:22:26.200 --> 0:22:29.200 didn't necessarily recognize what you were looking at. But this 0:22:29.280 --> 0:22:31.240 is like when I thought about it, I was like 0:22:31.520 --> 0:22:34.280 I was having trouble understanding it from the written description, 0:22:34.920 --> 0:22:37.600 and I thought about it and thought about it. I 0:22:37.640 --> 0:22:40.160 sat down for a little while, thought about it some more, 0:22:40.560 --> 0:22:43.960 and finally like, yeah, of course, um, I mean that's 0:22:43.960 --> 0:22:46.359 just a given. And then I finally was like, Okay, 0:22:46.400 --> 0:22:48.560 I I think I got this, and I think I've 0:22:48.600 --> 0:22:51.119 seen this before. You'll just see a few fireflights to 0:22:51.200 --> 0:22:53.240 start to kind of like fall into a rhythm, and 0:22:53.280 --> 0:22:55.919 then they fall out of the rhythm after a few flashes. 0:22:56.440 --> 0:23:01.560 That's still considered synchronous. You give them a Yeah, they're 0:23:01.560 --> 0:23:09.439 trying their best. They haven't oxygen, abdomen trichi god. So yeah. Well, 0:23:09.480 --> 0:23:11.120 one of the things I saw that that I thought 0:23:11.160 --> 0:23:14.359 was like really really interesting is um. As we'll see 0:23:14.400 --> 0:23:16.959 when we talk about what they eat. Most of the 0:23:17.040 --> 0:23:20.359 adults that you see flying around either don't eat or 0:23:20.800 --> 0:23:25.240 maybe eat plants, stuff like nectar and pollen. But there's 0:23:25.280 --> 0:23:28.760 this one kind of firefly which is actually pretty abundant 0:23:28.960 --> 0:23:35.199 in um in North America, the photourist species, where the 0:23:35.280 --> 0:23:42.879 female of this species will actually mimic the female of 0:23:43.160 --> 0:23:49.240 a rival species, Photinus, right, and they'll attract males from 0:23:49.280 --> 0:23:52.359 the other species the Photinus species to come over thinking 0:23:52.359 --> 0:23:55.480 that they're going to mate, and then what they find 0:23:55.520 --> 0:23:57.760 out is that, oh wait, this is the one female 0:23:57.800 --> 0:24:01.040 of the one species that is actually um going to 0:24:01.160 --> 0:24:04.560 eat me, that is actually predatory against other fireflies, and 0:24:04.680 --> 0:24:09.680 now I'm dead. Yeah, they're tricksters because the male uh 0:24:09.800 --> 0:24:14.680