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Newsweek
7 days ago
- Health
- Newsweek
Humans Give Off a Light That Is Extinguished in Death, Study Reveals
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. While auras may come from the realm of pseudoscience, all living beings do emit a faint light, invisible to the human eye—one that is extinguished upon death. This is the conclusion of a team of researchers from the University of Calgary, Canada, who used a special camera to study such "ultraweak photon emission" (UPE) in mice. UPE is closely linked to vitality," explained physicist Vahid Salari and colleagues in their paper, published in The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters. "The study of UPE has fundamental importance for basic research, as it can be used for non-invasive insights into the biochemical and metabolic processes of living organisms." Stock image of a man glowing. Stock image of a man glowing. bestdesigns/iStock / Getty Images Plus UPE has been detected coming from a multitude of life forms—all the way up from single-celled organisms to plants, animals and even us humans. Unlike bioluminescence (as seen in creatures like fireflies and glowworms), which releases high-intensity visible light, UPE results in extremely low-intensity light our eyes cannot see. It is also separate to the blackbody radiation emitted as a result of temperature. According to the researchers, at the heart of UPE is the production of so-called reactive oxygen species, or ROS for short. (These, as their name might suggest, are highly reactive oxygen-containing molecules that result as a byproduct of the chemical reactions that sustain all living things.) ROS play a role as signaling molecules in the cellular response to stress. If too many of these molecules are produced, however, they can actually cause oxidative stress. When this overwhelms a cell's antioxidant defenses, cells and tissues can be damaged and electron excitation and transfer processes can be induced, leading to photon emission. In their study, the researchers created ultradark enclosures to block out environmental light and allow UPE from living organisms to be detected via specialist cameras. A so-called Electron-Multiplying Charge-Coupled Device (EMCCD) camera was used to capture UPE from plants, while a "regular" Charge-Coupled Device (CCD) to observe the changes in ultraweak photon emission between live and dead mice. While live mice gave off robust emissions, the team found just-euthanized mice—despite having the same body temperature of 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit—gave off robust UPE. UPE from live (top) and dead (bottom) mice. UPE from live (top) and dead (bottom) mice. Salari et al. / The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters Experimenting on plants, meanwhile, the researchers found that UPE emissions increased with both temperature and injuries—although the latter could be mitigated with chemical treatment. The findings, the team concluded, highlight how "UPE imaging provides the possibility of non-invasive label-free imaging of vitality in animals and the responses of plants to stress." Do you have a tip on a science story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have a question about physics? Let us know via science@ Reference Salari, V., Seshan, V., Frankle, L., England, D., Simon, C., & Oblak, D. (2025). Imaging Ultraweak Photon Emission from Living and Dead Mice and from Plants under Stress. The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, 16(17), 4354–4362.
The Independent
20-05-2025
- Health
- The Independent
All creatures found to emit strange glow that extinguishes on death
All living beings emit a strange glow linked to vitality that vanishes when they die, according to a new study that may lead to a powerful new tool for medical diagnosis. Life forms are essentially complex biochemical labs in which metabolism fuels life-sustaining processes. A byproduct of this metabolism is a group of highly reactive oxygen-containing molecules called reactive oxygen species, or ROS. Excess ROS production may lead to what is known as oxidative stress, which induces electron transfer processes between chemicals in the body linked to the glow, researchers from the University of Calgary in Canada said. The study, published in The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, documents the strange glow called ultraweak photon emission, or UPE or biophoton emission, in mice. Researchers found that live mice emitted significantly higher UPE with greater intensity, compared to recently dead mice. In comparison, UPE varied in plants depending on exposure to stress factors like temperature changes, injury and chemical treatments. Previous studies suggest ROS could be key to this glow, characterised by a spontaneous release of extremely low-intensity light invisible to the human eye. The faint light falls in the spectral range of 200 to 1,000 nanometres and is observed across life forms, from single-celled organisms and bacteria to plants, animals and even humans. But not much is known about the effect of mortality and stress on UPE. The latest study compared this glow in living versus dead animals while visualising the effects of temperature, injury and chemical treatments on UPE in plants. Scientists developed dark enclosures to eliminate environmental light interference and used special camera systems for imaging plants and animals. They found that live mice showed robust light emissions while the faint glow from euthanised mice was nearly extinguished, despite both groups having the same body temperature of 37C. 'Our investigation reveals a significant contrast between the UPE from live vs dead mice,' scientists noted in the study. 'In plants, we observed that an increase in the temperature and injuries both caused an increase in UPE intensity.' Chemical treatments also modified the glow characteristics of plants. The application of a local anaesthetic – benzocaine – to the site of injury in plants led to the highest emission among the compounds tested, researchers noted. The findings reveal that UPE can be a sensitive indicator of vitality in animals and of stress response in plants. Scientists hope the study helps develop UPE imaging for future research and clinical diagnostics. 'UPE imaging provides the possibility of non-invasive label-free imaging of vitality in animals and the responses of plants to stress,' they said.
Gizmodo
14-05-2025
- Health
- Gizmodo
Living Creatures Cast a Faint Aura That Stops at Death, Study Suggests
We often say that the light leaves a person's eyes when they die. But it turns out all living organisms, including humans, emit a literal glow that extinguishes after death, according to a new study. The study, published in The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, found that living things glow faintly throughout their lives due to the energy released by metabolic and cellular processes. Monitoring this weak signal could one day help scientists track injury and disease. As cells consume energy, mitochondria release tiny amounts of reactive oxygen species (ROS) as a byproduct. These ROS react with molecules including proteins, lipids, and fluorophores, giving off a few sparse photons. But this light, a phenomenon called ultraweak photon emission (UPE), is—like its name suggests—extremely weak compared to ambient light sources—and is really hard to image. It's been observed in cells belonging to plants, animals, and humans, but never in entire living—or dead—animals. To capture this ghostly glow, lead author Daniel Oblak, an associate professor at the University of Calgary, and his team used an ultra-sensitive digital imaging system. They placed mice in dark, temperature-controlled boxes and imaged them with a two-hour-long exposure. When they imaged a living mouse, they saw photons rising all over the mouse's body, and with hotspots over its organs, head, and paws. However, dead mice exhibited a widespread drop-off in UPE, indicating that their light had been snuffed out, literally. 'While the live mice emit robust UPE, likely indicative of ongoing biological processes and cellular activity, the dead mice's UPE emission is nearly extinguished,' the authors wrote in the paper, which was supported by the Quantum Sensors Challenge program of Canada's National Research Council (NRC). And it's not just animals—living plants also give off an otherworldly glow. The researchers analyzed UPEs in an umbrella tree, finding that the strength of the glow increased when plants were injured or exposed to high temperatures. Chemical modifications, in particular the application of the anesthetic benzocaine, also increased the intensity of this light. Since the light is correlated with metabolic activity, the amount of light emitted by tissues can increase when they're damaged. By looking at tissues producing too much or too little light, doctors could noninvasively monitor the health of tissues. Researchers might also be able to monitor health and plant growth under different environmental conditions, the authors say. UPE might be 'a promising tool for advancing our understanding of both plant biology and biomedical research at the fundamental level,' the authors wrote.
