Flash, Glimmer, and Glow

April Edition
+ Some living things use chemical reactions to
make their own light. This light is called
bioluminescence.
+ They’ve developed this ability as an adaptation.
+ Some use light to search for prey, others use it to
scare away predators.
firefly
foxfire
Jamaican click beetle
Jamaican click beetle
• It has light organs on
its undersides.
logs. At night it glows
• A chemical reaction
green.
inside its body creates
+ About 65 species of
a cold light because
fungi can glow.
light is made with
+ 80 to 90 percent of
almost no heat.
deepwater life produce
life.
+ Foxfire lives on fallen
+ An anglerfish
waves a long rod
that looks like a
worm.
+ On the end is a
lighted ball
which is its
fishing lure.
+ An octopus uses light
to find prey.
+ When it opens its arms,
rows of flashing cells
light up .
+ An octopus needs
lights on its tentacles
and sticky suckers to
help trap prey.
+ The blinking arms of
an octopus snatch
creatures that swim
close.
+ When the “Burglar-
alarm” jelly is
threatened, it sets off a
display of flashing lights.
+ As a larger predator
approaches, the jelly
turns off its light and
glides away. Then the
large predator swallows
up the originial predator.
+ It makes more than
one light. It has a
body of 11 pairs of
“tail lamps” that
glow green.
+ A light on its head
shines red.
+ A cluster wink sea snail
shines a green light
when it’s in danger.
+ The shell splinters and
spreads light which
makes the snail look
bigger.
+ A type of fish has lights
on its underside, when
the fish’s light snap on,
it’s hard to spot from
below.
+ Scientists think they can use bioluminescence
to make life easier and safer for people.
+ Some are looking ways to use lights to find
pollutants in the environment.
+ Bioluminescence trees could help light city
streets.
Back To Life
+ The Gorongosa National Park was a casualty of a
15-year war in Mozambique, Africa. The ecosystem,
which had previously teemed with life, was nearly
destroyed.
+ Ten years ago, a philanthropist funded a group of
scientists to restore the park to its former glory.
+ Although they still have a ways to go, the scientists
have seen increased biodiversity among the plants,
animals, and other organisms living here
+ Scientists study the animals and plants living
in Gorongosa National Park in Africa.
+ A long war had killed much of the park’s
wildlife
Web of Life
+ 50 years ago
Gorongosa thrived.
+ When war broke
out. Soldiers
fought battles and
poachers killed
animals.
+ Ten years ago,
scientists were
asked to bring the
park back.
• The park is a large
ecosystem.
• It’s made of many
different kinds of habitats.
• Organisms form a
community of species
that need one another.
• This web of life in an
ecosystem is called
biodiversity.
Searching for Species
+ Without the beetle
to remove the
waste, antelope
dung would pile up,
killing the grass.
+ Without grass,
antelopes wouldn’t
have food.
+ Without antelopes,
lions would starve.
• Scientists found
insects, spiders and
other invertebrates.
• There were many frogs,
snakes and other
amphibians and
reptiles.
• Botanists found over a
thousand plant species.
• Scientists logged
nearly 3,500 species of
animals and plants.
Relocating and Rebuilding
• The number of elephants
were gone
are tripled to 500 individuals.
forever.
• The number of hippos
increased more than four
+ There are no
times to 440.
rhinos left.
•
The
number
of
buffaloes
is
+ Of the 3,500
increased to 700.
zebras, only 40 • Waterbuck, just one
remain.
antelope species, have
increased from fewer than
300 to more than 34,000
individuals.
+ Some species
Space Lab
+ Astronauts working at the International Space
Station use technologies that help people on Earth.
For example, they can take infrared images that
show farmers where healthy plants are growing.
+ They can also pick up signals from ships, allowing
them to track vessels' movement on the open ocean.
+ People living in remote areas are now using the
same portable ultrasound machine that astronauts use
in space. This allows them to get medical help when
doctors are far away.
Taking Pictures
+ Experiments done at the
• ISSAC is a special camera
space station lead to
that takes pictures of forests,
technologies that improve life.
grasslands, and farmland.
• It also sends images back to
+ The ISS is made up of
Earth.
connected sections where
• Farmers and ranchers use
astronauts live, work and do
the images to help them
experiments.
make decisions about crops
and animals.
• Farmers can tell which of
ISSAC : International Space
their plants are growing well
Station Agricultural Camera
and which ones aren’t.
• Ranchers can see where
their animals graze.
Scanning from Space
+ As new images are
• ADUM uses sound waves to create
transmitted from
pictures of the inside of a human body.
space, people can
• Astronauts use ADUM and send the
study this data.
data back to Earth.
+ ISSAC collects images
of the changing
environment around
the globe.
• Doctors on Earth are using ADUM .
+ It tracks natural
• This technology saved the life of a
disasters.
woman in Brazil.
+ Scientists use this
data to solve global
problems.
Medical Miracle
Monitoring Traffic
+ The doctor has an ADUM.He
sent a scan to city doctors.
+ City doctors saw the problem
and told the village doctor
what to do.
ADUM : Advanced Diagnostic
Ultrasound in Microgravity
The Vessel ID System picks up
signals from Earth.
It picks up the positions of as
many as
400,000 ships per day.
The space station collects the
data and then sends it back to
Earth.
This makes traveling the open
ocean safer.