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Bioluminescent Squirt Pistols
Anonymous Coward writes "In an effort to raise money for scientific pursuits, Biotoy is now selling Bioluminescent (glowing) squirt pistols and other neat (educational?) toys." I want one. Now. The H20 Glow on the Biotoy page looks pretty slick, too. I love it when e-commerce and scientific funding collide.
Japanese soldiers hat kits containing dried bioluminescent shrimp. When they needed light, they wetted some, and... instant illumnation! Just add water!
Try to order, but, don't use your REAL credit card number. First, "Certificate Name Check" failure. The certificate name and the site name are not the same. ["It is possible someone is trying to intercept ... "] Then, AFTER you put in your credit card information it failed: "Premature end of script headers" ... Then, when you email the webmeister: "Delivery failure" ... Then, when you call their 888 telephone number, it rings and rings and rings until finally you get a recorded message saying they are sorry they missed your call. Then, when you call their 412 telephone number, it rings and rings and rings until finally you get a recorded message saying they are sorry they missed your call. Sounds really ... interesting ... Shoestring operation? Shoddy programming? Scam or just a bunch of ... ahem ... errors? [I am getting to old to cancel my credit card every 90 days!]
The protein isn't named after the devil -- they share a common root. The name "Lucifer" and the word "luciferase" both come from the Latin root lux/lucis, light, and ferre, to carry.
According to the story, Lucifer was called LightBringer before he rebelled and fell, as he was the angel on the right hand of God, God's A-Number-One Angel.
And, of course, the protein is named luciferin for the same reason -- it 'carries' or 'bears' light. (No, not because the protein sat at the right hand of God....)
So, nothing sinister here, the protein was not named by Satanists, the gun is not a tool of the devil. Just a coincidence from the fact that science and the church both use Latin a lot.
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I found a page on bioluminescence after reading an an article on using bioluminescent dinoflagellates to monitor fluid flow about a month ago. I think most bioluminescent organisms use very similar proteins.
Something is fishy. (Pun pun pun) Why in the world do these people need to take that many expensive fishing trips? Luciferin-luciferase systems are understood. In fact, they are easy to buy and culture. Is there something special about jellyfish?
The toys are very cool, but this technology seems much less rare and expensive than the article implies.
Here's the impression I get:
The squirt gun requires contact with calcium to glow. The other two products, including H2O Glow, do NOT. Note their claims of the ability to make "glowing tap water". (Actually, I think some tap water does have calcium.)
Look on their safety page. The squirtgun (calcium-activated) and other products use different substances. (Specifically, the squirtgun uses NanoFlash+NanoFuel while all the others use NanoGlow+NanoFuel) So it IS most likely possible to create glowing drinks, etc.
Note that ProLume's page has a link to an article that mentions bioluminescent champagne.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
poison an enemy's water supply - do an attack at night and shoot anything that glows
put it in a pool/lake so people can swim at night
or, have people drink it before they go swim at night, so people can see each other/to help a lifegaurd see people who are drowning
put it in water and water other people's lawn's with it, thus really pissing them off when it gets dark
use it in ink for your pen/in books, so you can read at night more easily
blood for that Lizard-guy that was mentioned a few days back
put a few drops in your eyes
and, since you need Calcium for all this stuff to work apparently, the official slogan for all of these fine products will be.....
"Got Milk?"
so throw in a fucking TUMS. Christ, you people call yourselves problem solvers?
Thanks
Bruce
Bruce Perens.
In your scenario, the bioluminescent gene would be a major survival disadvantage. Any glowing bugs would be killed much quicker than their non-glowing counterparts, and the glowing gene wouldn't propagate. The only genes which will be passed on to successive generations are the ones which convey some sort of advantage. That's how evolution works.
This is too cool. I'm trying to think of possible uses for this stuff.
* Alcoholic beverages.
Obviously, some bartender is going to start making Glowing Pan-Galactic Gargle-Blasters out of this stuff soon.
* Fountains.
Now a building dosen't have to use lights to illuminate their expensive fountains. On the flip side, this could become a new prank. Instead of dishwashing liquid, use jellyfish powder to trash a fountain.
*Art.
I don't know the physical properties of this stuff. If you could freeze the treated water, and assuming it would still glow, you could do some neat stuff. Imagine an ice sculpture, gently glowing from an internal bluish glow.
*Entertainment
Treat the entire water supply in a water park. (Yes, this would require insane quantities of the jellyfish stuff). Going down a water slide in the dark when all the water is glowing around you would be a complete trip.
Any other ideas?
--jwriney
John Riney III
Edmund Scientific has Moon Blob Gel which looks just as cool as these squirt guns. And don't forget, they also have fresnel lenses so you can melt concrete!
Actually, cristals contain quite large quantities of water.. But still, it's 'bound' so I guess it qualifies as dry.
I can finally make the dinner parties mine own! I am the ambiant lighting technician here during the dinner parties and like to make the light low, but with the Bioluminescent H2O, I can light the dinner table from the table itself.
I will be able to show off my geek prowess while my girlfriend might be able to have not only the best food for dinner but the most novel approach -- a true way to best Martha Stewart.
I wonder if she'll be up for it or would this have to be beta-tested with just some of my co-workers? I guess its not a good thing to test it with the Parish Priest.
-- memoid
Think dumb medium sized rodents not Homer Simpson...
The best racoon trap is just a piece o shiny metal in a hole after all. Someone else can elaborate.
Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
Presumably, it uses ATP or some similar biologically-derived compound. Once the energy's spent, it goes out. It's not actually alive.
Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachtani?
www.fogbound.net
Isn't it so obvious? They're not human, and we're all that count on this earth :)
Open Source. Closed Minds. We are Slashdot.
Isn't it so obvious? They're not human, and we're all that count on this earth :)
Open Source. Closed Minds. We are Slashdot.
That's what "Not Tested On Animals" means. It means "Being Tested On You".
Unfortunately it doesn't look like any of this stuff could be used in plastics or paint in place of dangerous chemicals like phosphorus and radio-active elements....
Which is a real pity. I could use a glow-in-the-dark PC case! Anyone know of any safe chemicals or paint?
This actually could be very useful for fluid dynamics tests. Use NanoFuel and NanoFlash, and when the fluid hits hard turns or corners it will glow. This can highlight areas where there is problems with the flow of water.
Could also be useful for tracing liquids that make it into the sewer systems. Use NanoLight in the chemical source, and add NanoFuel in specific areas to track and trace where the leak is.
Wonder what sort of temperature range these things can stand.... Anyone?
I could imagine playing something like flashlight tag with the squirt guns. Unfortunatly, if you get hit, your more likely to get hit again, but that's your fault. Though you're less likley to get some horrible injury from tripping on something you can't see...
What about eye drops? Can this stuff be put into a saline solution and made into eye drops that would make my eyes glow? That would ROCK!
Calmacil
I can't seem to face up to the facts, I'm tense and nervous and I can't relax... --Talking Heads
Add some distilled water to the chamber, and fire. As the liquid squirts it looks just like water. But when it hits something _ anything that contains calcium, which can be found on people and all kinds of other things -- it lights up.
What would be really fun is if you could make a light bulb out of this liquid and powdered calcium. A refill would be a pack of tums.
were they made from the same materials as were in the article? were they refillable?
*growls and bites the AC's ankle*
Err... nevermind...
--
"I personal[ly] think Unix is "superior" because on LSD it tastes like Blue." -- jbarnett
To do less would be hypocritical.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
And imagine the thrill of releasing a little into the skimmer pot of a backyard pool! All of the sudden, glowing water starts shooting out of the return nozzles.
You'll probably have to turn off the clorination/ozoneation, or it might denature the proteins.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
Your digestive tract will take it apart and use it just like it does the protein from meat and veggies.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
I really hate imbeciles who bring the Nazis in to support *any* point of view.
I really hate imbeciles who dismiss out-of-hand any reference to the way the Nazis really were, and any comparison between their actions and those of a contemporary group. Such dismissal is extremely convenient for both neo-Nazis and those advocating feel-good political movements which lead to the empowerment of such totalitarian movements.
"Those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it." If the ACTUAL history of the Nazis can be suppressed for about twenty years, we can expect to see them again - under another name, with a few details changed, but with the full "power and glory" intact.
And I'm not talking about twenty years from NOW. This has been going on for a while.
Read _The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich_ some time. And be very afraid.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
They had to risk suffering to determine whether this stuff would maim little kids would be maimed by this stuff before it went on the market.
Animal rightists should pledge not to accept any medical treatment that was tested on animals - and wear a medic alert to that effect so the emergency room people will know to withhold such treatment if they're brought in unconscious.
My wife would have been dead long before I met her if not for animal research, and my best friend would have only one leg. Another close friend is a quadraplegic right now, and will probably remain so until he dies because of the government's ban on foetal tissue research.
One of the components of the Nazi mindset was animal rights - and it led in easy steps through replacement of lab animals with retarded humans and the definition of certain groups as "subhuman" to the "Medical Research" in the death camps.
I have no sympathy for people whose brains are so addled that they value the lives and health of rodents above the lives and health of human beings. That sort of thinking is only appropriate if the thinker is a rodent.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
Sosumi. just kidding. DONT!
You have some good points, but they all concern animal experimentation for medical purposes. Keep in mind that we're talking here about squirtguns, not medicine.
It's one thing that say that animal experimentation is sometimes necessary (when human lives are at stake, for example) and another to say that it should always be done. Sometimes, for example, animals are used instead of computer models that are just as good because animals are cheaper.
Even when animal testing is the only way to make sure something works, sometimes the end for which it's being done is pretty dubious. In the cosmetics industry, for example, there's a lot of rabbits being tortured to confirm the obvious proposition that yes, if you rub this stuff into your eyes and leave it in for 10 hours, you'll go blind.
No one disagrees that we should make sure our squirtguns don't maim our kids, but maybe if the only way we can be sure is by torturing animals, we should just go without our squirtguns. Many will want their squirtguns anyway, but you certainly don't have to have "brains [that are] addled" not to.
Why is it that most consumers go just daffy over anything(read:IMac) shiny?
_________________________
(Yes, I KNOW that was a hoax)
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
They use a protein called luciferases...I love the irony that the ammunition of a gun (albeit a toy) has it's roots with the devil. Bitchen idea though...I think I'm getting one...
Glow in the dark things rule. They look fun and you can do all kinds of cool stuff with them.
I have always wanted more glow in the dark stuff. I remember as a kid having glow in the dark stars over my bed and a glow in the dark frizby. The ultimate would be something like this, though, where you could make yourself glow in the dark by spashing yourself with their solution.
Back in the day though we didn't have everything handed to us on a platter like kids do these days (it makes me sick sometimes to think how spoiled some of these brats are) No, instead of some counting on some big shot company to do it we had to do it ourselves!
How you may ask? Through hard work, that's how. After about 3 nights of collecting fire flies and glow worms you have about an inch of them in the bottom of a jar. Then all you have to do is smush them onto your self and presto! Home-made alien costume.
Ahhhhh... those were the days.
Optometrists use eyedrops that glow under UV light to help find eye problems or something. Not as cool as glowing without any light, perhaps, but still pretty neat looking.
Um.. as I learned from high school biology, you can't 'load a squirt gun with powdered genes'. There's no such thing as a powdered gene, its just a sequence of DNA bases. You can of course have an organism transcribe those genes into proteins, and use the powdered bioluminescent protein. Looks like the article's author needs to learn some basic biology.
The thing is, those piddly little squirt guns look pretty weak. They should liscense it out to Larami so we could get Glowing Supersoakers! now THAT would be cool :)
Learn to know, the dark side of the force, and you will achieve a power greater than any Jedi...the power to save your w
BioToy's page says: BioToys all contain proteins called luciferases and a chemical called a luciferin. When the luciferin and luciferase are mixed together, light is produced. There are many different kinds of luciferases and luciferins. It sounds like luciferin and luciferase are a substrate/enzyme pair, meaning that luciferase is an enzyme that breaks down luciferin, releasing light. Since calcium is required for a glowing effect, calcium must be a cofactor for the enzyme. I haven't researched this yet. Molecular biologists out there: does this sound right?
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Stupid people suck.
I know, because I'm a mutation between a gadget freak and an avid paintballer. Check out the Tracerball You can get the paintballs in red, green, blue, and yellow. I had one once, but it broke because its made of REALLY cheap plastic, but I'll end up buying another one eventually just becuase its so damn cool looking. The basic idea is that it fits onto the end of the barrel of most paintguns and you use special paint that is illuminated by 4 lights on the inside of the attachment each time it detects a ball going through it. Last time I used it, I remember it still glowed on the guy I shot for a few seconds. Of course, like real tracers in real guns, you give yourself away. Best part about it is that when I played dark indoor games, I racked up ALOT of eliminations because of the uncanny effect of turning people into virtual "deer staring at headlights" when they see you shoot it. Easy pickin's! :) Makes for a great Star Wars scene when I put it on my fully automatic AT85 .
Let people drink it, open their mouths, and you can tell if they're getting enough calcium by looking in their mouth and seeing how light it is in there :)
If you can't figure out how to mail me, don't.
For linux tips: http://www.linuxtipsblog.com
Remeber the old saying "Nuke 'em 'till they glow and shoot 'em in the dark?"
Well, now you can shoot them until they glow and, uh, shoot them in the dark.
.cig - what you do after winning a good flame war
Is it only a matter of time before imac comes out with this stuff somehow imbedded into the exterior?