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Biology
Fireflies, or lightning bugs, are a type of beetle that live in marshes or temperate woodlands. There are over 2,000 species of firefly in the world! All of them glow when they are newborn larvae, but only a handful retain that ability as they get older. The fireflies who do glow in adulthood do so in order to communicate with each other by using flashes of light, kind of like Morse Code! Each species has a unique flash pattern, so they can find each other in the dark no matter how many other species of firefly are nearby.

Firefly eggs are laid just under the dirt, or inside the water for some species. During this stage of their life, they will primarily eat snails, slugs, and other insect larvae. Most firefly larvae will hibernate during winter and emerge in spring. They will then pupate for about two weeks, and emerge as adults!
Unlike many types of bioluminescent fish (who use bacteria to make themselves glow), fireflies emit their light by creating their own chemicals. This is also considered a "cold light", since it doesn't produce any heat!
The recipe for light is as follows: The enzyme luciferase, which acts on the compound luciferin when in the presence of magnesium ions, ATP, and oxygen! Researchers are studying how the fireflies make these compounds, as they have many potential uses in medicine, bioengineering, and even forensic sciences.