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Science

Bioluminescent Squirt Pistols 191

Posted by emmett from the shoot-'em-til-they-glow dept.
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.
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Bioluminescent Squirt Pistols More

Bioluminescent Squirt Pistols

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  • Oh awesome.. (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Glow in the dark beer? Damn I want them to develop that =) I wonder, does it come out the other end still glowing (as waste that is)..

    What a strange thought =)

  • Just imagine.. (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    the glowing puke all over the place.

  • Re:YES (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Humans are the ones who want this, so they should be the ones to sacrifice for it.

    Oh well, rats are shit anyway and don't feel pain, so who cares about them?

  • Re:they are making TOYS not medicine (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    nt

  • Light bulbs... applied during World War II (Score:2)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Japanese soldiers hat kits containing dried bioluminescent shrimp. When they needed light, they wetted some, and... instant illumnation! Just add water!

  • Biotoy: shoestring or shoddy or scam? (Score:3)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 08, 2000 @03:47AM (#1392421)
    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!]
  • Hell, I want to help TEST that! :)

  • >>Would you rather they experimented on humans?

    > Depends on the human

    What about lawyers or MS programmers, they're not really human...

  • 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.

    --
  • I found a page [umich.edu] that supports what you wrote. The luciferins and luciferases vary among organisms. Biologists believe that several bioluminescent mechanisms evolved independently. Neat-o.
  • The proteins in different luciferin-luciferase systems are significantly different. They do not appear to have a common evolutionary source. Bioluminescence from jellyfish and dinoflagellates probably involve quite different molecules and mechanisms. Also, it is still unclear how many of these systems work.

  • I found a page on bioluminescence [ucsd.edu] after reading an an article [newscientist.com] 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 [ucsd.edu]. Is there something special about jellyfish?

    The toys are very cool, but this technology seems much less rare and expensive than the article implies.

  • More interesting than the actual product being sold, can this be a new model for funding science, as Congress slashes funding scientific efforts left and right (ie NASA)? It will be interesting to see if other commercial science orgs will do the same thing (build something for consumers that's "cool" to finance the real science)...
  • Posted by Synsthe:

    I wonder if there''ll be any future lawsuits from parents, if their kids start glowing in the dark at night and keeping everybody awake.

    Hey, it could happen.
    --
  • The stuff they're selling is green, and it uses genes from jellyfish "caught off the coast of Washington." I originally thought the stuff might be Green Flourescent Protein, but you need to have long wave UV light to make it glow. So what is it? Luciferase?

  • Wha? (Score:1)

    by Tim ( 686 )
    What do you mean by "probably not a gene"?

    I was guessing that Ca is a cofactor for the enzyme too, but which enzyme? Do they actually mention luciferins somewhere on the product site?
  • What's that?

    High calcium content?
  • 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.

  • what else can we do? (Score:3)

    by crayz ( 1056 ) on Friday January 07, 2000 @05:21PM (#1392434) Homepage
    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?"
  • I belive that Lucifer was the name of the star that Jupiter became in Arthur C. Clarke's 2001 series.
    ---
  • Oh, come on. Shiny is *cool*. I love shiny stuff.
  • so add milk. quit yer bitchin.
  • gays, women, and minorities are human. I like humans. Actually, I generally like animals, too. But I have some priorities.
  • so throw in a fucking TUMS. Christ, you people call yourselves problem solvers?
  • Wasn't the early DNA research done through crystalography? I'd think it would be dry if it was crystalized.

    Thanks

    Bruce

  • 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.
  • He is referring to the tubes you find all the time at raves and such, or for parent to find their kids... you should be able to find them just about anywhere, just ask for glowsticks...

    No, they arent refillable.. hmm, we've never broken one in half, to get at the guts...not sure what they are made of...



    ________________________________________________ _____________
  • Aren't those things powered by a chemical, not biologiacal, reaction? I don't think they're the same thing, in any case -- the liquid in those lightsticks is not what you'd want in a squirt gun. Not only does it stain, but it tastes pretty nasty.

    --------------------

  • If someone made contact lenses that got dark in bright light, like the "photochromatic" (tranistional) lenses you can get for glasses - now that would be useful. I might finally try contacts if they could do that...
  • Then there's Crowley, from "Good Omens"
    Not so much a fallen Angel, but one who sauntered vaguely downwards
    (It wasn't that he was evil, just that he hung out with the wrong crowd.)

    Yeah, yeah, OffTopic -1

  • I actually had a pet rat a few years back that was much MUCH more intelligent then any of my dogs have ever been.

    Taking this in mind, you'd think I was against animal testing... Personally, I think if they breed the animals just FOR that then they aren't harming the ones that know any better, just the ones that were destined to die anyway.

    Plus I don't think I'd be willing to try something someone handed to me when they said "Just try a sip... We think it'll do this but it'll possibly hurt more than anything else you've ever felt your entire life."

    - 8Complex
  • You used to be able to buy glow in the dark paintballs. I think it was either Zap or Pro-Ball that used to sell them. I haven't seen it in awhile so I doubt if there was much of a market for it.
  • Seen those Volkswagon ads? there isn't a turbonium atom, but that didn't stop them.
  • Welcome to our OOL, please keep the P out.

  • Cows (Score:1)

    by RAruler ( 11862 )
    I wonder, if you fed it to cows.. would they give off glowing milk? now that would beat cow tipping.... yessir
  • if you get hit, your more likely to get hit again

    There is a precedent for positive feedback in games, particularly drinking games. Many drinking games require the player to do something tricky, like reciting a tongue twister, and take a drink if he fails. More drinks make it harder to do the tricky thing, hence positive feedback.

  • I think that's right.
    Lucifer was originally an angel (hence the 'light' part),
    but God smacked him down...

    --Kevin

    =-=-=-=-=-=
    "HELLO SMALL CHILD! WHO IS BACK! I HAVE THE RENEGADE MASTER WITH ME!"
  • Hmm...Dosen't appear that the online ordering is working...
    Slashdotted?

    --Kevin

    =-=-=-=-=-=
    "HELLO SMALL CHILD! WHO IS BACK! I HAVE THE RENEGADE MASTER WITH ME!"
  • Now what would really be cool is paintballs filled with this stuff...
    But judging by the prices on the website, and how much paint is normally,
    a 500 count bag of 'glowballs' would prolly cost ~$200...

    But think about how cool an evening game would be!

    --Kevin

    =-=-=-=-=-=
    "HELLO SMALL CHILD! WHO IS BACK! I HAVE THE RENEGADE MASTER WITH ME!"
  • >Would you rather they experimented on humans?

    Depends on the human... ;)

    --Kevin

    =-=-=-=-=-=
    "HELLO SMALL CHILD! WHO IS BACK! I HAVE THE RENEGADE MASTER WITH ME!"
  • 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

    In the 1970s when my family got its pool, there was a chemical you could buy and add to your pool that would turn purple if anyone urinated in the pool. The idea being that folks wouldn't pee in the pool if they knew they'd be caught.

    My parent's never bought the additive because they were afraid that their friends would compete to see who could create the longest purple stream.

    Init-"I Am So Offtopic It Hurts"-Zero

    (PS: Instead of the chemical, we bought a sign that said 'we don't swim in your toilet, please don't piss in our pool'. {shakes head} The 70's. Gotta love 'em.)

  • 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
  • hmmm, that's interesting, because this research was not done solely for the purpose of making and selling toys. The toy products we are seeing are a result of an idea to sell them to get an extra avenue of revenue for further research.

    Everyone assuming that the rats were used for testing, to ONLY sell the toys, are jumping to conclusions.

    To put it another way, the toys are a byproduct of the research, not the original reason for the research.

    Quote from Prolume website [nanolight.com]:

    "Valuable life science uses for NanoLight's technology include high-throughput drug discovery, functional genomics, tumor imaging, replacement of radioisotopes, and molecular diagnostics. One particularly exciting application is the ability to use NanoLight's reporter systems to "illuminate" gene and molecular function within living cells, allowing pharmaceutical companies a revolutionary method to study drug activity. A second opportunity is to broadly supply researchers who are increasingly moving away from radioactive reagents and toward light-based reporter systems and instruments. NanoLight Technologies is poised to capitalize on both of these accelerating market trends."

    Quote 2 from the CNN article [cnn.com]:

    "The idea is to raise enough money from selling novelty items to underwrite more important pursuits, such as using the glowing genes to identify cancerous tumors or detect nerve gas."

    It appears to me that people are seeing the term "animal testing" and immediately going into some type of "environmental gestapo" mode without first being fully aware of the motives and facts behind said animal testing.
  • You would do well to read Tom Clancy's "Rainbow Six". Although it is fiction, it does raise some points about environmentalistic atitudes.

    One particular point made near the end of the book, was that if environmentalists are THAT concerned about the Earth and animal rights, then perhaps they should all go live in the wilderness with the animals.
  • Edmund Scientific [edmundscientific.com] has Moon Blob Gel [edmundscientific.com] which looks just as cool as these squirt guns. And don't forget, they also have fresnel lenses so you can melt concrete!
  • That's news to me. Ever look into the other end of a telescope?

    I remember using a pair of toy binoculars to catch ants on fire as a little kid.
  • Actually, cristals contain quite large quantities of water.. But still, it's 'bound' so I guess it qualifies as dry.
  • I am a geek. My girlfriend is Martha Stewart. She is always baiting me to buy her the coolest cookwares by showing how cool the best gear is so we have loads of sharp knives and whatnot.


    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.

  • Incidentally, actually reading the article will point out that it's Prolume [prolume.com] that's trying to raise research money by manufacturing the squirt guns. Biotoy is just a company doing similar things, apparently.

    - Cattywampus.
  • 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.
  • Presumably, it uses ATP or some similar biologically-derived compound. Once the energy's spent, it goes out. It's not actually alive.
  • Isn't it so obvious? They're not human, and we're all that count on this earth :)
  • <sarcasm>Isn't it so obvious? They're not human, and we're all that count on this earth</sarcasm> :)
  • You've never seen a bioluminescent light tube? They're a plastic tube with a glass capsule inside. Break the capsule and the two liquids glow green for an hour or two.
  • They give the example of custom liquids glowing when sprayed on a tumor. Be a bummer to get something cut off just because you were playing with a squirt gun the night before the operation...
  • "Would you rather they experimented on humans?"

    That's what "Not Tested On Animals" means. It means "Being Tested On You".

  • Re:Too much of a good thing?... (Score:3)

    by SEWilco ( 27983 ) on Friday January 07, 2000 @04:38PM (#1392472) Journal
    1. You'd digest it...if you didn't vomit. Not much would get in your system..other than on your teeth.
    2. The enzyme would wear out and need replacing. You ever see how long a biolume glow rod lasts?

  • Plastics (Score:2)

    by Cef ( 28324 )

    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?

  • Hmm...Flashlight tag (Score:3)

    by Calmacil ( 31127 ) on Friday January 07, 2000 @04:30PM (#1392475)
    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!
  • If this is safe to drink .. it would make a very intresting bar mix...

    On the otherhand .. glowing teeth of the opposite sex wouldn't be too attractive
  • In the 1970s when my family got its pool, there was a chemical you could buy and add to your pool that would turn purple if anyone urinated in the pool. The idea being that folks wouldn't pee in the pool if they knew they'd be caught.

    I always thought that was just a story people told kids to scare them out of pissing in pools. Worked, though.

  • Ah, but you can get powdered DNA. I learned that in high school biochemistry, where I extracted it from the ever so painful Rocky Mountian Oysters.
  • 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?
  • yup..but too much exposure can damage your eyes. careful with that UV lamp.
  • damn i miss TNG.
  • See the real company page and check out the links
    http://prolume.com/ [prolume.com]
  • hide and seek just got harder..


  • > too bad the fresnel lens is used for light
    > dispersion, not focusing into a tight beam.

    Hmmm? Works like a magnifying glass, but lighter. Hah, hah.

    Ryan
  • Okay, so I go to their order page [webstation.net], fill in my details, hit submit, and I get this:
    Internal Server Error The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request. Please contact the server administrator, webmaster@www54.rapidsite.net and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error. There was also some additional information available about the error: [Sat Jan 8 01:56:39 2000] access to /u/web/biotoy/cgi-local/FormMail.pl failed for 210.55.83.245, reason: Premature end of script headers
    Slashdotted already? Geez, they just don't make e-commerce servers like they used to, do they?
  • Actually, if you go to Prolume's site, you will note that BioToy is a division of Prolume. So, yes, they are all the same company.
  • Does anyone know if you could use this H20 glow to make glow in the dark drinks or would mixing this with alcohol be dangerous?

    Ummm... It might help to read the article
  • One pair of my glasses does the same thing.

    In my case, the glasses in question have the lenses that are designed to change according to different lighting conditions. (dark lense when bright outside, clear when dark or inside building.)

    the slight glowing tinge is i believe a result of the affect that blacklight has on the chemicals used in these lenses. My other pair of glasses with "regular" lenses, do not glow under black light.
    And yes, it does make it harder to play laser tag. grr.
  • gays [...] are animals. :)

    *growls and bites the AC's ankle*

    Err... nevermind...

  • Hell yeah dude I'm there!! I cant wait to get ahold of that stuff so i can walk around at a rave and watch everyone freak trying to figure out what it is!!

  • Glowing (Score:1)

    by p0d ( 56980 )
    FYI Glowstick liquid tastes disgusting. I had one of those new in mouth glowsticks and for reasons I will not cover I had a case of jaw clenching, and the dang thing broke, ick I needed a gallon of redbull to wash it all away. Anyhow, this H2O Glow stuff would be a hit at most of the clubs and such I frequent. :) Hmm...this gives me an Idea...SlashRave 2000 Featuring Sasha, Paul Van Dyk, John Digweed, etc...sponsored by ProLume, RedHat, and Natalie Portman.

    Minus the portman sponsorship, i think a slashdot rave would go over well :).

  • According to The Straight Dope, [straightdope.com] they use two chemicals, luciferin & luciferase, stored in separate, concentric tubes. Bending the tube breaks the inner tube, releasing its contents to mix with those of the outer tube.

    If I remember correctly, luciferin & luciferase are the same chemicals fireflies use to produce their light.
  • Since you'd obviously rather they discover any harmful effects by damaging people rather than rats, why don't you volunteer for the tests?

    To do less would be hypocritical.

  • 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.
  • Your digestive tract will take it apart and use it just like it does the protein from meat and veggies.
  • 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.

  • Re:Rats & Rabbits (Score:5)

    by Ungrounded Lightning ( 62228 ) on Friday January 07, 2000 @05:05PM (#1392498) Journal
    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.
  • I don't have photogrey lenses. I used to but hated them.
  • My glasses lenses flouresce dimly under UV light. I notice it most when (of all things) playing laser-tag, just because that's the way they typically decorate laser-tag arenas.

    I would best describe it as though you were looking through a thin fog. Turn down the contrast and up the brightness on your monitor enough, and it's a similar effect. It's more annoying than it is hard to see through.
  • you never adderest his main question, Are you willing to refues all medical that was tested on animals. Are you willing to die for the animals, you should reall ask your self.
  • The first time you experience bioluminescence is usallly pretty freaky.. The beached jelly fish on the beach at night are almost always a neat way to see what these folks are talking about. If you poke them with a stick, you can see what looks like electricity flowing throughout their bodies. (even after they are dead). It's a rather amazing sight - something you must experience your self.

  • You're missing a crucial difference. (Score:3)

    by Draxinusom ( 82930 ) on Saturday January 08, 2000 @12:04AM (#1392510)
    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?
    _________________________

  • One trick pony (Score:3)

    by Greyfox ( 87712 ) on Friday January 07, 2000 @07:37PM (#1392515) Homepage Journal
    Wow. They can make stuff glow. And they do so. Repeatedly. I'm sorry, I'm not impressed. How about a product I can use? Bring on the THC producing orange trees!

    (Yes, I KNOW that was a hoax)

  • SATAN??? (Score:4)

    by kiley ( 95428 ) on Friday January 07, 2000 @04:11PM (#1392518)
    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.
  • To raise money, Prolume last month began selling $4.99 squirt guns loaded with powdered genes that were replicated from a jellyfish caught off the coast of Washington state.

    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 :)
  • 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?
  • I know, because I'm a mutation between a gadget freak and an avid paintballer. Check out the Tracerball [tracerball.com] 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 [adtacsys.com].

  • 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.

  • Toys Rule (Score:3)

    by spudwiser ( 124577 ) <spudwiser@hotmLIONail.com minus cat> on Friday January 07, 2000 @04:35PM (#1392551) Journal
    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.

  • Is it only a matter of time before imac comes out with this stuff somehow imbedded into the exterior?

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