Biofluorescence: A Neon World Hidden in Plain Sight

Lots of life on Earth can fluoresce, creating a beautiful neon world of camouflage, communication, and adaptation that is hidden from the human eye.
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Sources:
www.cnet.com/news/scientists-...
scienceline.ucsb.edu/getkey.ph...
www.thermofisher.com/us/en/ho...
geology.com/articles/fluoresc...
“Fundamentals of Biochemistry, Life at the Molecular Level: Biology, Biochemistry” via Google Books
academic.oup.com/mbe/article/...
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...
citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/...
journals.plos.org/plosone/art...
www.nature.com/news/radiant-r...
www.nature.com/news/get-the-g...
royalsocietypublishing.org/do...
bio.biologists.org/content/ear...
io9.gizmodo.com/what-happens-...
royalsocietypublishing.org/do...
bmcecol.biomedcentral.com/art...
www.sciencedirect.com/science...
bioone.org/journals/the-journ...
eurekamag.com/pdf/008/0080061...
ri.conicet.gov.ar/bitstream/h...
academic.oup.com/mnras/articl...
www.nature.com/articles/srep2...
Image Sources:
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
www.flickr.com/photos/spiderm...
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
www.eurekalert.org/multimedia...
www.eurekalert.org/multimedia...
www.eurekalert.org/multimedia...
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
tinyurl.com/y2clpmvx

[@KarlBunker]

We have flying squirrels that regularly visit a feeder in our yard every night. Right after watching this video I went out with a UV flashlight, and ZOMG! Their tummies glow in a bubblegum pink! It's the craziest and cutest thing! Also, Olivia looks particularly adorable in this video.

[@melissawickersham9912]

Bubblegum pink glowing squirrels...how cute! 😍🐿

[@evichad7644]

Cool! How cute!

[@ndnmomma78]

I love how much slower she speaks and seems more at ease in all her recent videos. Looking fantastic too. Great work all of you! 😚

[@xck]

Under the sea, you can’t see me! I am still glowing, bio fluorescing, Under the sea!

[@wolfiethebumpireslyr]

Swing and a miss.

[@ezekielmartin4323]

Under the sea! Under the sea! No need for stressin' When biofluorescin' Colorfully! Thanks to a flash of UV light Sharks are scared away because I glow bright! I look so neon They can't take me on Under the sea! (How'd I do?)

[@xck]

Ezekiel Martin you did pretty darn good

[@TrekkieBrie]

CONGRATS!!! I see you had your baby. ❤️

[@craigcorson3036]

You should not make that assumption. Not all pregnancies reach full term, and it may be a sensitive topic. It would be nice if she'd end the suspense if it did reach full term, though.

[@TrekkieBrie]

@@craigcorson3036God forbid I congratulate her...

[@Zveshi]

A quick view on her instagram shows that her child Astrid (Sid for short) was welcomed to the world on 11/10/18, and as of Feb 14th, looks happy and healthy. You were right to congratulate :)

[@dewy9589]

I love her voice

[@sigmundbalmung]

Can't seem to be a nice person because "sensitivity" 🙄

[@GandalfTheTsaagan]

Birds can see uv light and many are fluorescent Which means that non-avian feathered dinosaurs might have been the same

[@TerrariaGolem]

Good thinking.

[@ezekielmartin4323]

J U R A S S I C R A V E

[@melvinshine9841]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that most dinosaurs, theropods in particular, could.

[@brendanharan4501]

Just watched Annihilation, and any mention of horizontal gene transfer would have improved he movie so god damn much,.

[@blakenguyen5683]

that bear scene with the screaming chick is very disturbing

[@ross-carlson]

Agreed - I wasn't really a fan as it was just TOO out there (and yeah, that screaming/talking "bear" was horrifying)

[@NewbyTon]

New limited edition glow in the dark animals coming to store near you

[@VincentGonzalezVeg]

theres talk of genetic engineering cata to reacto to radiation by glowing so they can always allow us to know where there's radioactive dump sites and making nurologically disturbing architecture to drive the future people away and mix that into oral religion to ensure humanity dosent mutate and die in the future

[@HyperionaSilverleaf]

Look up GloFish

[@uwu-br4qx]

I'm so happy you talked about this! It's one of my favorite subjects about biology as well as bioluminescence.

[@speckles_cheetah4307]

Same here!

[@joeisabella6811]

I agree! I want to see the inside of a megamouth sharks mouth while it's bioluminescence is glowing so badly ever since finding out it does!

[@elaineb7065]

@@joeisabella6811 Did you say SHARKIES???

[@StarScapesOG]

Nice carry over from SciShow space! Love it!

[@philliplay8550]

Yeah, Olivia is back. Hello Olivia. 🙋‍♂️

[@Fusako8]

Olivia! Glad to see you back, and covering one of my favorite topics! I'd love to see an episode on photo-luminescence in rocks, with a discussion of long, mid, and short-wave lights and the dangers of each.

[@theuserintheroom4450]

I've been waiting for a new video on this topic! Finally!

[@lShishkaBerryl]

I'm a child of the 80s/90s so I come with a built in obsession with everything glow, neon, or holo. These are my spirit animals 😁

[@elaineb7065]

Same!!!

[@HyperionaSilverleaf]

Do do do do! Billy Jean is not my lover! She's just a girl who claims I am the one. But the kid is not my son.

[@jasepoag8930]

I enjoy a fish tank full of biofluorescent coral every night.

[@slickrick75150]

Aw the joys of reefkeeping what size tank? Mine is 50 gal

[@jasepoag8930]

​@@slickrick75150 125gal SPS and LPS mostly. It's at about a medium grown-in stage.

[@shikharpriyadarshi3537]

Awesome stuff, keep it coming

[@rwhatebreed]

Dig the beanie. Now you just need to be holding a longboard.

[@ValeriePallaoro]

Yo Olivia! (that right?) loving the look, the tone, and the ... you put a lot of yourself into this one and it's a good'un. You make me want different eyes though with this scichow. Fluorescent/neonglow/uv senses .. it's super *winnks

[@Booga300]

Like your new look, it suits you. Not that there's anything wrong with the other style, :) you pull them both off quite well. Also, I love my GM glow fish. Fluorescence rocks.

[@elikopokopo6443]

My heart fluoresces when i see you . Olivia

[@erronblack1]

0:18 Woah, woah hang on a minute - there are *flying* squirrels?

[@hectorvega621]

Yea, I just don't remember the name. Was it Sugar Glider, idk, but yea there are.

[@FreedomAnderson]

@@hectorvega621 - Sugar Gliders are Marsupiald, and are not Flying Squirrels.

[@hectorvega621]

@@FreedomAnderson oh ok. I remember what the flying Squirrel was call. It's probably just flying Squirrel or just a gray Squirrel.

[@patrickmccurry1563]

That's their name. But they only glide. The only true flying mammals are of course bats.

[@timothygreer188]

Actually, there are 50 different flying squirrel species. The Borneo Dwarf flying squirrel is about the size of a pet mouse, with the Woolly flying squirrel being about the size of a small housecat. I kid you not, there is a squirrel as big as a cat!

[@-4subscriberswithahammerad521]

Dude the sneak level is so high there isn't even a limit

[@TacticalReconSquad]

I was just looking at my reef aquarium when I saw this video. Nice.

[@sefk9003]

Let's get that out on to a tray

[@warriorslegends1920]

Looking good keep up the good work 😁

[@viggo8213]

*SHINY*

[@SquirrelASMR]

Hi Olivia cool hat and looking g good

[@cbux1447]

I'm so excited she had her baby!!!! Congrats from all of us :) You look beautiful

[@brentsander4849]

Thanks Olivia!

[@pl4515]

Good to see Olivia again :D

[@lightninglarry8509]

Very enlightning video

[@frankcooke1692]

"My head is freezing! But my arms... they're burning up!"

[@Zeldaschampion]

I think in some of these cases, Biofluorescence is actually helpful to the their predators.

[@christelheadington1136]

I ingested some chemicals and got lit once...OK maybe more than once.

[@achi-leanathlos8376]

Woooooow, double rainbow duuuude, like....woooooow!!

[@achi-leanathlos8376]

@@Fjdvejsj5 you must be one of those anti-vax mommies

[@gigglysamentz2021]

Wow! New style!

[@patrickmalone1373]

Love Olivia without the glasses.

[@theeel8981]

What Brilliant light!

[@Christopher-N]

(0:16) Yes, most birds - including the lovable cockatiel - are tetrachromatic. They see in four colors, which is why they sometimes spook to some colors, they can see fluorescence.

[@HTPCYMC]

That’s how Biofluorescence works

[@noahgreer1497]

Brillianch

[@DuffleMuffin]

They made the Subnautica plants and animals a real thing :0

[@SquirrelASMR]

Did you say *PINK SQUIRRELS!?* 😀😀😀

[@abyssalzei552]

Sounds like a band name

[@melissawickersham9912]

How very cute! 🐿❤️💕

[@HyperionaSilverleaf]

@@abyssalzei552 it's a drink

[@davidprodigy5833]

It is from another world!!!

[@bosnakedisniksic]

It's fitting that you did this episode, you're absolutely glowing rn.

[@marcusceti2820]

Considering the way that biofluorescence converts UV to longer, lower energy wavelengths, could this be perhaps useful when and if higher than normal UV reaches a planet's surface? Such as, say, if it's ozone layer thins or is removed somehow? This might help explain why so many animals can do this.

[@AverytheCubanAmerican]

Yup you’re right about the fluorescent rocks. I have a few of them that I got at a NJ mine museum during a school trip. They let us explore a hill full of rocks and if we came across fluorescent ones, we got to keep them

[@DanaOrtiz]

Best channel on you tube

[@JeremyWS]

Caller: Is this this the Crusty Crab? Patrick: No, it's Patrick.

[@peapool5420]

I have some of those coral . They are awesome and affordable

[@yellowlarch]

very cool.

[@bertsedgwick9828]

0:53 'with a little bit of energy gets excited for a few nanoseconds then relaxes' ..........sounds like me after a skinful... lol........poor wifey

[@Kenxclout]

So these animals aren’t stuck in the 80s?

[@brianpridemore9689]

I like your new look.

[@neilisbored2177]

1:31 that molecule looks like Electro Specter from earthbound

[@gigglysamentz2021]

3:00 How can the coral protect the algae that's on top of it ?

[@floydharrison2000]

theres a professor at wayne state thats been doing this in Biomedical physics. fordt time ive seen it out of Detroit.

[@eve36368]

seeing all the ultraviolet colors & infrared colors is the only reason why I'd ever by smart sunglasses.

[@pauvane]

So Eve from Wall-e glows in the dark too? 00:13

[@rohumhossain7992]

just imagine drinking a GFP protein shakes and showing up to the gym with your muscles and pecs glowing green.

[@gillesgeorges5539]

Love your videos

[@tarnishedknight730]

I don't think I'm ready for horizontal Gene transfer. Unless you are talking about the transfer when two living organisms collide at a fairly stiff speed P. S. Liked the lighting @3:22.

[@combatking0]

0:16 - is that EVE from W.ALLE?

[@lazyperfectionist1]

How odd it is that someone ventured into the desert with a black light just to see what fluoresced.

[@affaanansari6227]

Sneak level - *100*

[@SilentKaliSmoker]

Yeah it would be cool to see that on another planet. But if life is different there, they may not even have the ability to biofluorence

[@pridefulobserver3807]

NEON FLYING CYBER SQUIRRELS !!!

[@melvinshine9841]

Sounds like an early 90s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles rip-off.

[@chargingbig4317]

Olivia is looking and sounding good in this video.

[@pedrovinicius5694]

Can it be that the proteins that make animals glow are a consequence of their metabolism? Cause a lot of the plants glowing red looks too much coincidence for me.

[@antoniojimenezperez50]

New tattoos? Cool

[@FlyKiwi]

Don't stress, biofluresce.

[@NewbyTon]

*_Shine bright like a diamond_*

[@audrey4506]

What a Brilliant episode😜

[@dontimberman5493]

You found my carrhart beanie!!

[@Enigminthemist]

I use to have a pet rat that had underfur would glow green in the black light.

[@melvinshine9841]

I can't remember where I heard it, but supposedly humans actually glow in the dark. The glow is so incredibly faint that we obviously can't see it and no one really knows why we glow in the first place. I've no idea how true any of this is.

[@tommyleegraves423]

fun fact... north american opossums fur floreces orangeish pink...

[@christianmoody5856]

Great video

[@paxdriver]

Slam dunk topic but almost no footage of brown fluorescing marine life or glowing scorpions! 😬

[@TheRealMirCat]

We need to send a prob out to, say orbit, Neptune. Then practice detecting life on Earth.

[@TerrariaGolem]

Hm. Good idea.

[@nickgehr6916]

So yoe explained that unicorn exist but our eyes just can't absorb its pigment waves

[@Pranaynaynay]

I can't shake how much I think Olivia looks like Spinelli from recess with that beanie

[@froggyplatypus]

Needs more pigtails.

[@coolbionicle]

Fluorescent color is just black for the UV spectrum

[@acidtablockshifty]

The brains florece and the light shine in their mouths so when they hang out with their mouths open bacteria and stuff is attracted to it and they either eat the stuff or maybe its like cleaner shrimp but on a smaller level

[@busterbeagle2167]

That brown knit hat

[@conradmcdougall3629]

I got to stop wearing my Carhartt touque now.

[@geomundi8333]

Key and Berne are better brands anway bra; gd these hipsters

[@ctrhenry]

Can’t wait for there to be a different hat that people want to wear

[@slipperypetesmeat]

some one put amy back on the big bang theory

[@slickrick75150]

When can I take a pill and become my own nightlight lol

[@princessbuttercup8954]

Did Olivia have her baby? It looks like she has. She has the new mom glow. Congratulations! 🎉🍼🎉🍼🤱👶

[@GamesFromSpace]

New mom glow looks like a recently stoned college student?

[@patrickaycock3655]

Olivia was positively glowing. She looked so hawt.

[@patb9375]

I have a hat just like that. Looks better on Olivia though.

[@BrokebackBob]

Glassless look is working for you big time, hat less so. 😉Hair from an angel. Narration is top notch!

[@emyrosa]

the carhartt beanie makes me feel like she’s gonna ghost me

[@carissstewart3211]

Ok, I have to know - how do we know crayfish brains biofluoresce?

[@KnightSlasher]

It is like whovil in real life

[@krishnareddy1341]

We can be future avatars with different color fluorescence..😜

[@TheInselaffen]

Pink Skwerls? And deep water Kerls?

[@Max_Le_Groom]

5:18 ET life

[@culwin]

This is a weird trait to spec into.

[@wilurbean]

I could swear I've seen the hat before...is it an m88 or shorts brewing???

[@jj-creator-of-worlds]

thing that floress