Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

US Military Eyes the Glow of Fireflies

Posted by samzenpus on from the get-some-glowing dept.

GarryFre writes "According to the AP: 'Someday, the secrets of fireflies or glowing sea plankton could save an American soldier in battle, a Navy SEAL on a dive, or a military pilot landing after a mission. That's the hope behind a growing field of military-sponsored research into bioluminescence, a phenomenon that's under the microscope in laboratories around the country. This phenomenon is noteworthy because this produces light without wasting energy because it does not generate any heat. A possible military use of bio-luminescence would be creating biodegradable landing zone markers that helicopters can spot even as wind from their rotors kicks up dirt.'"

12 of 98 comments (clear)

  1. Cylumes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    WTF is wrong w/ break and shake cylumes? Consumer versions are pretty small, but they could be made bigger.

    1. Re:Cylumes by acnicklas · · Score: 3, Interesting

      The military has them up to about three feet. Possibly larger, but those are the biggest I've personally used.

  2. Your tax dollars at work, sposorng the next fad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Just as battleships were hot, then nukes were hot, then mind-reading and mind-control was hot, then IT was hot, now biotech and robotics are hot.

    Lotsa money will go in on "strategic" grounds, and who will get what will, as usual, depend on how well connected they were before they left the army.

    Welcome to the world of MIC. Want a piece of the pie too? Then join the service.

    Would you like to know more?

    1. Re:Your tax dollars at work, sposorng the next fad by blackraven14250 · · Score: 1, Interesting

      You know, of all the things the military could be spending money on, I really can't bring myself to complain about this... Funding science is pretty much the only nearly universally accepted upside to having a military.

      Even better is that our military isn't small, or underfunded. Having a military like Liberia's leaves you with no room for R&D, unlike the US military, which has more money going into R&D than active duty personnel in combat operations.

  3. The Office of Naval research has done this before by The_mad_linguist · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Back in the 1950s Johns Hopkins offered a penny a piece for each live firefly you gave them. Lots of kids got pocket money, but the population noticeably dropped for the next couple of years.

  4. See landing makers through dust? by Rejemy · · Score: 3, Interesting

    By the time the rotors are kicking up dust from the landing area, isn't it a little late to be looking down at landing markers anyway?

  5. They've researched bioluminescence before by Plazmid · · Score: 4, Interesting

    One of the reasons bioluminescence gets researched by the military so much is because bioluminescent plankton create flashes of light that interfere with submarine laser communication systems. As plankton and submarine laser communication systems like to use wavelengths of light that transmit furthest in water(blue-green).

  6. Cheap solution: Kids in Iowa by RyoShin · · Score: 2, Interesting

    When I was a kid, we'd capture fireflies and put them in empty soda bottles. When we wanted them to light up, we'd shake the bottle real hard. I think the army can handle that.

    One check please.

  7. Re:The Office of Naval research has done this befo by grcumb · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Back in the 1950s Johns Hopkins offered a penny a piece for each live firefly you gave them. Lots of kids got pocket money, but the population noticeably dropped for the next couple of years.

    They've not only researched it, they've used it in combat. I'm afraid I don't have an online reference, but I recall reading in a National Geographic magazine in the late 70s or early 80s that Japanese and Allied officers used bioluminescent plankton and mold to read maps and documents in the Pacific theatre during WWII.

    --
    Crumb's Corollary: Never bring a knife to a bun fight.
  8. Dont let peta know :P by neo0983 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Dont let Peta find out about this but fireflies in a glass jar work fairly well and I am sure are far cheaper than researching how they do it.

  9. Re:You are so fucking stupid. by trum4n · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Current landing markers do not light up. They are basically colored sand bags.

  10. Re:Pukelitzer prize strikes again by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Actually, the efficiency of the firefly type of bio-luminescence is something on the order of 98%.

    So, if you're not an entropy nazi, yeah, it is indeed a "cold light".