What do giant squids, mantis shrimp, and fireflies have in common? These animals, along with a wide range of creatures, are able to give off light; this is called bioluminescence. Different species use different chemistries to bioluminesce, and they produce their light for a variety of reasons, including communication, hunting, and self-defense. Bioluminescence is a unique and fascinating adaptation found in the animal kingdom. Surprisingly, about half of all known phyla (a classification for animals that share the same body type) contain some bioluminescent species. Scientists don't yet understand all facets of bioluminescence, but they have managed to harness the glow and use it in a myriad of ways. One of the most important applications involves using bioluminescence as a microscope in medical studies. For example, laboratory scientists can create fluorescent malaria parasites to track the path by which the disease is spread from a mosquito to the animal it bites. Bioluminescent proteins are also helping researchers learn more about cancer, HIV and other viruses, and complex neurological processes. In fact, bioluminescent proteins are so useful to twenty-first-century medicine that two groups of scientists, one in 2008 and the other in 2014, were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their work with these proteins and related technologies. Even artists and fashion designers use bioluminescence in their work to create glowing, light-sensitive paintings and clothing lines. Author Marc Zimmer, a world-renowned specialist in fluorescent proteins, takes readers on a glowing journey into the frontiers of bioluminescence.
Framed by Jobs' inspirational Stanford commencement speech and illustrated throughout with black and white photos, this is the story of the man who changed our world.
Edited by #1 New York Times-bestselling author Melissa de la Cruz, the book is the perfect gift for girls of all ages.
True Stories for Girls of All Ages Melissa de la Cruz. Henry Holt and Company, Publishers since 1866 Henry Holt® is a registered trademark of Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010 fiercereads.com ...
Complete with: - Personal advice from teens who have lived or are living in two households - Tips on goal-setting and planning skills - Comic-book-style illustrations that give the book an edgy, modern, graphic novel feel
On November 21, Clyde and Bonnie celebrated Cumie's fiftyninth birthday with other family members on a deserted road west of Dallas near an unincorporated community called Sowers. Clyde and Bonnie were planning to leave town for a while ...
Violence even broke out in Congress when Representative Preston Brooks of South Carolina beat Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts almost to death on the Senate floor. Brooks was angry because Sumner had delivered an antislavery ...
At the Auto-Ordnance annual meeting, surrounded by antiques in Thomas Fortune Ryan's opulent New York office, Thompson suggested the gun be named after its chief financial backer. But Ryan wanted nothing of it.
Kimberly Bryant founded Black Girls Code because her daughter was the only black girlinasea of white, malefaces at a computer science camp. “I wanted to create something where she could find another community of girls like her who were ...
WOMEN OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT Shown here are members of Kimberly Bryant's organization Black Girls Code, which she created to help black girls advance in technology classes. LEARNING ABOUT CITIZENSHIP WOMEN OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS ...
Washington's logical successor was his vice president, John Adams. Burr, however, hoped that Thomas Jefferson would run for president. And Burr also believed that he would be an excellent choice for the Republican vice president.