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Aglow in the Dark: The Revolutionary Science of Biofluorescence.


AGLOW IN THE DARK: The Revolutionary Science of Biofluorescence VINCENT PIERIBONE AND DAVID F. GRUBER Max von 1853-1927.
Austrian bacteriologist noted for his work in serum diagnosis, including the discovery (1896) of the specific agglutination of bacteria by the blood serum of immunized animals.
 

The last German submarine sunk in World War I was betrayed when it triggered the glow of microbes in the Mediterranean Sea Mediterranean Sea [Lat.,=in the midst of lands], the world's largest inland sea, c.965,000 sq mi (2,499,350 sq km), surrounded by Europe, Asia, and Africa.

Geography



The Mediterranean is c.2,400 mi (3,900 km) long with a maximum width of c.1,000 mi (1,600 km); its greatest depth is c.14,450 ft (4,400 m), off Cape Matapan, Greece.
. This phenomenon, which gives certain jellyfish
jellyfish or jel·ly·fish·es
1. Any of numerous marine coelenterates of the class Scyphozoa, some poisonous species of which, notably the Portuguese man-of-war, produce a toxin that can be injected into the skin by nematocysts on the tentacles, causing linear wheals.
2. Any of various similar or related coelenterates.
 their flickering luminescence
1. The emission of light that does not derive energy from the temperature of the emitting body, as in fluorescence and bioluminescence.
2. The light so emitted.
 and is characteristic of more than 90 percent of deep-sea creatures, is called biofluorescence. Pieribone and Gruber reveal the painstaking efforts of scientists to identify the mechanisms behind this mysterious light, including 19th-century work by Raphael Dubois, who coined the terms luciferase and luciferine to describe the catalyst and fuel for the biofluorescent reaction. In the 1930s, Edmund Newton Harvey identified these compounds in numerous glowing organisms, including the firefly, and 30 years later, Osamu Shimomura discovered the novel way by which jellyfish produce light. Cellular-molecular biologist Pieribone and journalist Gruber detail how the groundbreaking discoveries of these and other researchers have had widespread implications in forensic science, molecular biology, and neuroscience. Harvard, 2006, 288 p., color photos, hardcover, $24.95.
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Title Annotation:Books: A selection of new notable books of scientific interest
Publication:Science News
Article Type:Book Review
Date:Jan 21, 2006
Words:167
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