this post was submitted on 19 Mar 2024
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bioluminescence (mander.xyz)
submitted 5 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 62 points 5 months ago (4 children)

Technically you are, just at a frequency your eyes aren't tuned to see.

Apparently humans actually have zebra stripes when illuminated under the right circumstances.

[–] [email protected] 50 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Yeah in the blacklight at the furry con

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

Nuh uh. I'm a Scalie.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 5 months ago

Idk if blackbody radiation counts as bioluminescence

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago (1 children)

What's concerning is figuring out the evolutionary advantage of being able to hide from predators who have eyes 1000x more sensitive to light than anything on Earth...

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

Uh yeah, no.

Bioluminescense relies on pigments and specific proteins involved to convert energy to a visible wavelength of light. This isn't the same as the arbitrary calories we burn to maintain homeostasis or the resulting black body radiation.

That being said, gene therapy really has come a long way and bioluminescense is pretty well understood to the point of being an undergrad lab in intro bio, so really, there is nothing stopping you from GMO'ing yourself to have glowing pigments.

Also, if you making the claim we've got zebra stripes under some conditions, please explain those conditions.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

If different types of cells looked different, we would have zebra stripes. I think only geneticly female people would though, for the same reason only geneticly female cats can be calico.

CORRECTION: This happens in both sexes. The difference between cells comes from whether each cell uses one parent's X chromosome or the other parent's. This decision happens when there's just 100 or so cells, so the different cells spread like rock layers as they divide, leaving stripes of them covering the body.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago (1 children)

If different types of cells looked different, we would have zebra stripes.

Ok. Show me that.