Light & the spectrum

1 studies · The longest wavelengths. Weak man-made radio noise can affect animal navigation.

1 studies · Microwaves heat materials directly, and chemists use them to speed up reactions.

2 studies · Between microwaves and infrared, terahertz waves can probe materials and biomolecules.

3 studies · Infrared is felt as heat. Snakes and vampire bats "see" it, and red/near-infrared light is studied as therapy.

4 studies · Luciferase enzymes make living things glow. Scientists use them as light-up reporters and have even made glowing plants.

7 studies · Bioluminescence, light made by living things, has evolved many times, from bacteria to fish. Most animals in the open ocean can make light, and on land it is found in fireflies and glowing fungi.

4 studies · Squid, octopus and cuttlefish change color and pattern in an instant. Their reflective protein reflectin and their skin design inspire adaptive camouflage materials.

4 studies · Some animals glow using light-producing bacteria they host, like the deep-sea anglerfish's lure and the Hawaiian bobtail squid's light organ. Many midwater animals use light on their bellies to erase their shadow, called counterillumination.

4 studies · GFP is a protein from the jellyfish Aequorea victoria that glows green under blue light. Its discovery and development as a genetic marker earned the 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry (Shimomura, Chalfie, Tsien). It lets scientists see where genes are switched on in living cells.

6 studies · Optogenetics uses light-sensitive proteins, first found in the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, to switch cells on and off with light. Related tools use light to turn genes on and off. It is mainly a research tool in neuroscience and synthetic biology.

2 studies · A drug that is harmless until activated by light, then kills nearby tumour cells.

2 studies · Colour made by nanostructures rather than pigments, as in butterfly wings and shiny blue berries.

3 studies · The narrow band our eyes see powers photosynthesis, lighting and some medical treatments.

3 studies · UV light kills microbes and helps skin make vitamin D. Far-UVC at 222 nm kills germs while barely penetrating skin.

3 studies · X-rays reveal the atomic structure of molecules and the inside of the body.

3 studies · A bacterium that survives radiation doses that shatter its genome, then puts its DNA back together.

5 studies · The shortest, most energetic wavelengths: used to sterilize medical devices and food, treat cancer, and image the body.

6 studies · Scientists speed up natural mutation, first with X-rays in plants and animals, later in test tubes for enzymes (directed evolution). Frances Arnold, George Smith and Gregory Winter shared the 2018 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

7 studies · Lasers make intense, pure-colour light. They hold cells, chill atoms, reshape corneas and 3D-print metal.