KUALA LUMPUR: For 60 years scientists could not unravel the mystery behind the chemical reactions that produce light flicker resulting from the abdomen flashes or fireflies.
Citing a report from National Geographic, scientist Bruce Branchini of Connecticut College with friends and colleagues managed to unravel the mystery with the discovery of oxygen, which is responsible for electron particles emit light.
Experiments conducted Branchini found oxygen involved in the transmission of light that fireflies specially shaped and called 'superoxide anion.
"Superoxide anion is a form of oxygen molecules that contain an extra electron," said Branchini adding 'superoxide anion' may occur due to the phenomenon of bio-pendarcahaya (bioluminescence in an English term that means the production and emission of light by living organisms) in nature.
The findings were published in a journal titled, "Journal of the American Chemical Society 'and managed to give a comprehensive picture of the biochemical processes that occur in the body of the insect.
"How enzyme and protein chemistry to transform the energy of light is a phenomenon that is very basic and we want to know how the biochemical processes that occur," said Branchini in the report.
A thorough study of the process of biochemical fireflies are believed to utilize research to human health in the future.
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