Bioluminescence – Part 4

This month we continue our series on organisms with bioluminescence and turn our attention to glowing mushrooms. Mushrooms are a fungus. and currently about 80 different fungi have been found with luminescent capability. Some, like the foxfire to the right, are bright enough that you can read a book sitting next to them. Perhaps the brightest of all is the Ghost Mushroom of southern Australia. Every summer thousands of people take the to woods at night to see these amazing mushrooms shine. It is believed that the nighttime glow attracts flying insects that help spread the mushroom’s spores and assist with distribution to new food sources. The glowing mechanism in mushrooms has not been fully studied out, but it involves luciferin, the same light-emitting compound found in the firefly. Lucifer is Latin for “light-bringer” or “Morning Star.” How sad that Lucifer, the most luminescent angel of heaven, rebelled against God and tried to set himself up as the True Light. Every light, from our brilliant sun to the lowly glowing mushroom, is only a reflection of the One who is in the “brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power!” (Heb. 1:3)

Posted on August 3, 2020 by dwoetzel.

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