[Christ]

Originally Posted by dcb

quite a number of species can do bio-luminescence, it is an interesting bit of convergent evolution, but it is still seems somewhat energy intensive as most species only do it occasionally. So I don't know how realistic the "few calories" part will be.

I don't have the notebook any more, as it was several years ago, but it was unlikely enough that I didn't even bother continuing the project. It takes an excessive amount of bacteria and the like to create a single calorie, let alone the several (thousand??) it takes to light an entire 10x10 room for only a usec.

Several of the species of algae that bio-luminesce will do it "on demand" when agitated. However, they will burn so much of their caloric intake creating light that they won't have enough energy to continue living in some cases. It's not a good light source without bio-engineering. It's a fairly interesting project, though, and it's always cool to have a flask of algae sparkling on your headboard.