View a gallery of biofluorescent animals, which contain cells that emit various colors when exposed to ultraviolet light.

Virtually all plants are biofluorescent because their photosynthesis is powered by chlorophyll, a pigment that glows red as a way to get rid of excess energy when exposed to ultraviolet light.

Photographer captures glowing flowers in ultraviolet light

Debora Lombardi utilizes ultraviolet light to reveal unseen colors in flowers, re-shaping their natural beauty. Beginning during the lockdown of March 2020, Lombardi's experimentation evolved, culminating in a series recognized by the World Photography Organization. Her work highlights vibrant purples, blues, and yellows, transforming flowers into surreal, otherworldly specimens by exposing them to UV light in her Italy-based studio.

Biofluorescent animals—those that absorb light, such as ultraviolet rays, and re-emit other types of light, such as neon green, include some flying squirrels, scorpions, sea turtles, and platypuses.

View a gallery of bioluminescent organisms, including jellyfish and mushrooms

Some species produce a quick flash of light, while others glow steadily with an eerie glow, often to seek attention or in response to being disturbed. Snails, worms, fungi, and other organisms highlight that this ability evolved independently, rather than from one common ancestor.

Bioluminescent organisms produce their own light through chemical reactions involving unstable, energetic molecules, while biofluorescent organisms almost immediately re-emit light shone on them, but at a different wavelength.

Satellites can be used to measure photosynthetic activity around the world by observing the red, biofluorescent light emitted by chlorophyll in plants.

To protect the symbiotic algae they rely on for food, some corals absorb ultraviolet radiation and re-emit it as visible light, which these algae can photosynthesize.

How the pigments that absorb light for photosynthesis contribute to plants' green color

Although light energy is captured to power the reactions that produce the building blocks of starch, cellulose, glucose, and other sugars, chlorophyll a and b are most sensitive to violet, blue, orange, and red light, leaving green light mostly unabsorbed. This green light is instead reflected, giving most plants this color appearance.

The chlorophyll in plants captures energy in the form of red and blue light

Light-dependent reactions during photosynthesis convert sunlight into chemical energy, stored within the bonds of molecules such as ATP and NADPH. Rather than being absorbed for these reactions, most green light is reflected, causing most plants to appear green.

Because it is observed in organisms that are not closely related, biofluorescence is thought to have emerged independently about 100 times in nature.

Solutions of bioluminescent bacteria can create FOMO-inducing living art

A 2002 exhibition at Montana State University-Bozeman placed the bacteria onto petri dishes that served as macroscopic pixels to create images. Once the bacteria finished eating all the food in the sealed dishes, the light slowly faded away, ending the exhibit.

View the fluorescently stained internal structures of a tardigrade

The photograph won the Olympus Global Life Science Light Microscopy Americas regional award in 2019. Using chemicals from biofluorescent organisms, the image illuminates internal structures with multiple hues in an otherwise mostly colorless organism.

View a sample of the bioluminescent tree of life

This diagram shows 42 different light-producing organisms, from bacteria and fungi to worms, fish, and crustaceans. It illustrates how the ability to produce light has appeared multiple times across the tree of life, rather than stemming from a single ancestor.

The 2008 Nobel Prize in chemistry was awarded for discovering and developing uses for green fluorescent protein—a biomolecule found in Aequorea victoria, a jellyfish native to the Pacific Northwest.

Massive blooms of microscopic algae called dinoflagellates produce the neon blue light seen in glowing tides.

Scientists can tag multiple fluorescent probes to various proteins to simultaneously visualize several biochemical processes, with each probe's activity corresponding to a different color.

View examples of luciferin, the light-emitting molecule behind bioluminescence

Bioluminescent marine organisms rely on various unique luciferins, including Cypridina-type luciferin in seed shrimp and chlorophyll-based dinoflagellate luciferin, to react with oxygen to produce light. These chemicals require unique catalysts to help them bind with oxygen.

Bioluminescent reaction enzymes are often used in biomedical research

Near-infrared luciferase systems allow researchers to image and analyze cellular activity in living animals because they penetrate tissue more deeply than visible light. This provides a means of studying gene expression and protein interactions without harming the animals.

Bioluminescence provides organisms with a method of hunting, defense, or mating

Unlike glow sticks, bioluminescent reactions use renewable resources like oxygen and ATP. This ability allows fireflies to mate and deter predators, anglerfish to confuse and attract prey, and deep-sea shrimp to defend themselves by vomiting glowing slush.

View illustrations of bioluminescent functions in marine organisms

Bioluminescence can startle predators, camouflage, lure prey, confuse rivals, or facilitate mate recognition. One tactic—the burglar alarm—involves an organism releasing light to attract a larger predator to its attacker as a means of defense.

Watch underwater photosynthesis make water look like champagne

In shallow waters where sunlight can reach, photosynthetic reactions absorb water and dissolved carbon dioxide, producing bubbles of oxygen at the surface of plants. As these bubbles rise to the water's surface, a fizzy appearance is created.

Starting with red, colorful objects will appear to lose their colors the deeper they are submerged because water scatters light, reducing the amount available to reflect off objects and be observed.

What do psychedelic plants look like?

Far from the drippy aesthetic often associated with psychedelics, the plants powering naturally occurring psychoactive experiences may not stand out as anything special. This database offers a visual guide to psychoactive plants and fungi. Clicking on the title of a particular plant, such as yerba mate, will bring up a secondary screen with various hyperlinked images, such as the plant itself, related botanical drawings, and molecular structures.

By separating light with tools such as prisms, scientists can reveal the presence and composition of celestial matter by identifying color fingerprints unique to specific elements and molecules.

Photoautotrophs, which include plants, algae, bacteria, and Euglena, are organisms at the base of the food web that convert light energy from the sun into chemical energy stored in sugars.

View a colorful gallery of solar features, including coronal loops and filamentary prominences, curated by the National Solar Observatory.

Glow sticks feed energy released in chemical reactions to fluorescent dyes

When bent, the glass tube inside the stick breaks, releasing hydrogen peroxide into the surrounding solution. The ensuing reaction creates unstable molecules that decompose and release energy, which is then absorbed by molecular dyes that emit light when their excited electrons return to lower energy states.

Proteins with limited light sensitivity prevent humans from seeing all types of light

Specialized photoreceptor cells in the retina called cones each possess photopigments that activate when exposed to three ranges of visible light. Other forms of electromagnetic radiation outside the activation range do not generate signals for processing in the brain, thereby limiting average human vision to approximately 10 million colors.

Instead of consuming water and carbon dioxide to produce oxygen and sugar, anoxygenic photosynthesis involves alternative reactants and products.

Bioluminescence became common in the ocean to support survival in dark environments

Despite seeming like a rare ability in land animals and unseen in plants, bioluminescence has evolved at least 29 times across marine species, indicating its necessity for survival where hiding spots are rare and highlighting how environments provide evolutionary pressure.

Why 75% of ocean animals glow

About 75% of ocean creatures can make their own light. It's called bioluminescence—and it all comes down to a special chemical reaction happening inside their bodies.

Bioluminescence may provide a sustainable alternative to electric lighting

French start-up Glowee is experimenting with lights made from bioluminescent microorganisms in public spaces to reduce energy use. While the technology shows promise, challenges remain with brightness, maintenance, and scaling it for widespread use.

Wood that changed the color of water was the earliest recorded example of fluorescence

Lignum nephriticum, a tea used to treat kidney and urinary illnesses, was described in the 16th century as derived from white wood that turned water a bluish hue. However, in the 17th century, accounts described the wood as reddish and creating a kaleidoscope of colors in water. In 1915, the sources were identified as two different woods, which absorb UV radiation and emit visible light.

The weakest form of light that is dangerous to humans is ultraviolet

Unlike radio waves, microwave, infrared, and visible light, UV light can produce chemical changes, such as curing adhesives and resins, causing substances to fluoresce, and destroying the genetic material of microorganisms. This makes UV light useful for sterilization, forensics, and quickly drying nail polish.

Watch David Attenborough's documentary on bioluminescent creatures, which have been observed using light for hunting, mating, communication, and self-defense, and number in the thousands of species.

Bacteria have been genetically engineered to bioluminesce when wine has spoiled

Developed by researchers at Hebrew University, the method involves the firefly enzyme luciferase, which emits light from within bacteria expressing when they are in the presence of acetic acid vapors produced by wine. The process provides affordable, on-site, real-time monitoring of fermentation quality.

What is the rarest color in nature?

Plants, animals, or minerals found in nature bear almost every color imaginable. There are two factors that influence what hues you see in the wild: physics and evolution. So, which colors are you least likely to see in the natural world? Victoria Hwang explores one of nature's rarest spectacles.