A newly perceptible glow is attenuated just after the death: it can be used in monitoring of living beings.
All living beings, animals and plant, emit a small and imperceptible glow: theultradesbo fotonic emission – so it is defined – it is made up of photons produced by metabolic processes inside the cells. Now a research on mice shows that this faint light disappears shortly after death, a confirmation of its effective existence and its being closely connected to vital processes. The study was published on Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters.
“fault” of the mitochondria. Living cells emit a very weak intensity glow, distinct from that produced by phenomena such as bioluminescence or radiation generated by any hot body. As the New Scientistthe ultradesboy photonal emission – Ultraweak Photon Emission (Upe) – It could be due to intracellular energy exchanges between mitochondria and other particles, which emit the equivalent of a few photons per second per square centimeter of epidermis. The existence of this glow has long been subject of discussion Due to the absence of a fairly sensitive technology to detect it, or that allowed to isolate it from other types of light or heat emissions.
Now that you have sufficiently sensitive tools, the detection of the ultra -widespread photonic emission is easier than once, although still discussed on its origins and functions: most scientists believe that they originate mainly from processes involving The reactive oxygen species (like free radicals), whose production also takes place in the mitochondria.
Turned off. Dan Oblak, a physicist of the University of Calgary in Canada, studied the long exposure images acquired over two hours of four glabrous mice, always kept at the same temperature and sheltered from other light sources. The glow of photons emitted by animals has been captured before and after their death: Just after the death, the ultra -widespread photonal emission has suddenly attenuated in the body of mice. This sudden termination is probably due the interruption of blood circulation rich in oxygen in the bodyone of the main activator springs of the metabolism that produces the studied glow.
Possible scientific uses. In a second part of the study, using the same optical tools, Oblak noticed that the bright glow increased in the “umbrella” plant Heptappleurum arboricola When its leaves were damaged or sprayed with various types of chemicals. Therefore, perfecting the observation techniques, the ultra -widespread photonal emission could be used for monitor the response of plants to stressor to verify from afar the vitality of animal tissues without the need for invasive tests, in a completely passive way.
