The human body literally glimmers. The intensity of the light emitted by the body is 1000 times lower than the sensitivity of our naked eyes. Ultraweak photon emission is known as the energy released as light through the changes in energy metabolism. We successfully imaged the diurnal change of this ultraweak photon emission with an improved highly sensitive imaging system using cryogenic charge-coupled device (CCD) camera. We found that the human body directly and rhythmically emits light. The diurnal changes in photon emission might be linked to changes in energy metabolism.
Amazing pictures of "glittering" human bodies have been released by Japanese scientists who have captured the first ever images of human "bioluminescence".
Although it has been known for many years that all living creatures produce a small amount of light as a result of chemical reactions within their cells, this is the first time light produced by humans has been captured on camera.
Writing in the online journal PLoS ONE, the researchers describe how they imaged volunteers' upper bodies using ultra-sensitive cameras over a period of several days. Their results show that the amount of light emitted follows a 24-hour cycle, at its highest in late afternoon and lowest late at night, and that the brightest light is emitted from the cheeks, forehead and neck.
Strangely, the areas that produced the brightest light did not correspond with the brightest areas on thermal images of the volunteers' bodies.
The light is a thousand times weaker than the human eye can perceive. At such a low level, it is unlikely to serve any evolutionary purpose in humans – though when emitted more strongly by animals such as fireflies, glow-worms and deep-sea fish, it can be used to attract mates and for illumination.
Bioluminescence is a side-effect of metabolic reactions within all creatures, the result of highly reactive free radicals produced through cell respiration interacting with free-floating lipids and proteins. The "excited" molecules that result can react with chemicals called fluorophores to emit photons.
Human bioluminescence has been suspected for years, but until now the cameras required to detect such dim light sources took over an hour to capture a single image and so were unable to measure the constantly fluctuating light from living creatures.
While the practical applications of the discovery are hard to imagine, one can't help wondering what further surprises the human body has in store for us.
I really enjoyed the celebration of life for Salvatorin on zoom and this Awesome vid of memories & music:) Makes me cry every time I watch it.
"This reminds me of the carefree times. Times I’ve tried to recreate many times as I’ve gotten older but never truly felt again. When summers were long and time never seemed to run out. When you didn’t need a plan, a schedule, an event, to have fun. All you needed was your friends and the woods." -Kengo Nagaoka
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Aphex already did it
in General Banter
Posted
did someone say collapse?
did someone mention heaven?