Theme of the Week: Glow in the Dark

As some of you know, I love all things that glow in the dark. What most of you don't know is that I almost went to study the organism that makes the red tide, Gonyaulax polyedra. As an undergraduate and graduate student, I studied circadian rhythms (daily rhythms) and Gonyaulax, a single celled organism, has loads including glowing in the dark. Yep, I almost go my PhD in glow in the dark critters.

So it is no wonder that I still marvel at all things glowing. This week I am going to suggest a few ways to play with the idea and talk about some of the science behind glowing.

To kick things off, I am going to send you to a link with Steve Spangler. Here he shows you how to make your pumpkin glow in the dark.

Unlike just painting them, which might work as well, these pumpkins will look reasonably pumpkin-ish even during the day.

The glow in the dark powder here is phosphorescent. It absorbs light energy during the day and emits  or  gives off, the light for a time after the light sources (the sun) is gone. They won't glow forever, but long enough for some fun to be had.