Forget the fireflies, check out these lightning bugs of a different color. SciFri listener Chris Lavin stumbled upon fluorescing blue millipedes during an evening stroll near her home in Canyon, California and sent along video documentation. Glowing-millipede specialist Paul Marek, an entomologist at the University of Arizona, identified the millipedes, and explained what’s known about their mysterious glow.
Credits
Millipede footage courtesy of Chris Lavin, Paul Marek
Music by Yacht
Meet the Producer
About Flora Lichtman
Flora Lichtman is a host of Science Friday. In a previous life, she lived on a research ship where apertivi were served on the top deck, hoisted there via pulley by the ship’s chef.