THE SCIENCE OF CHRISTMAS by Tangstar Science T’was the day before Christmas break and all through the school, No one was very attentive, especially the pupils. creatures,(meaning xbyevena xxxxbyplants anda xxxfungi, can glow! The secret behind their glow is called bioluminescence. The The books were already packed away, word bios- comes from the Greek word for “living” and -luminescence comes from the Latin word lumen with 10 minutes to spare, meaning “light”. Organisms create living light in In the hopes that the teacher several ways, but the main way is through producing a light-emitting pigment called luciferin. When this would let them out early, pigment is oxidized (meaning it has some electrons but they all knew t’was rare. removed from it) by an enzyme called luciferase, luciferin will release light. The most familiar The children were day-dreaming of bioluminescent organism is probably the firefly. This creature has a light organ in its abdomen where the toboggan rides on top of a sled. bioluminescence occurs. Some species glow both in While visions of presents and hot the larval stage as well as in the adult stage. There are several reasons why this is useful. Fireflies contain chocolate danced in their heads. a distasteful chemical that turns predators away. The glow signals to predators that they should avoid But before the bell rang, eating the fireflies. As well, the speed and pattern of the flashing male firefly’s abdomen attracts females. the teacher had one final thing to say. It’s been shown that many females prefer males that “Don’t forget to read your can flash faster. Before modern Science of Christmas Article lighting was available, coal miners used to capture fireflies in glass before you go out and play”. jars and use them as a lighting sources in the dark conditions of the coal mine. (1) You might have once heard a teacher say that (3) How could Rudolf have developed his own “science is everywhere!” It’s true. Even Christmas bioluminescence? We know that reindeer (also called time is full of fascinating science. We’ll look into some caribou) live in the Arctic tundra. They like to eat of the most interesting Christmas science in this mainly a type of lichen called reindeer moss. A lichen article. What is the science behind Rudolf’s glowing is a curious two-part creature. It is composed of red nose? Could Rudolf be a girl? Why are Santa’s photosynthetic bacteria that live within the filaments elves so short? Why is Santa’s hair so white? How of fungi. Though we don’t does Santa stay undetected as he delivers his know of any bioluminescent presents? As, well, what you will discover about the lichen, there are over 70 humble turkey will be sure to surprise you. These species of bioluminescent topics will all be explored in this article. Hopefully you fungi, some of which are found are curled up someplace warm with a cup of hot in North America. It is possible cocoa. Sit a spell and read on to learn more. that Rudolf is the only reindeer to have found his own secret (2) See that Nose Glow! Rudolf is Santa’s main patch of lichen that contains bio- reindeer and he’s famous for his glowing red nose. Of luminescent fungi. The glow created course this makes Rudolf special but he is not the only by this type of fungi is called “foxfire”. glowing creature in the world. In fact, many Rudolf has potentially eaten enough ssdfsddfasdf © Tangstar Science of this type of lichen to make his nose glow. But why (7) Do such small people naturally exist among us? A does his nose glow red instead of green (which is the condition called dwarfism leaves people with short color of many lichen)? It’s the blood vessels in his stature. People who are under 4 feet 10 inches tall nose. If you put a flashlight up to your fingers in a are considered dwarves. Dwarfism can be caused by dark room you will see that the light moving through factors which prevent bones from growing to their your flesh glows red as it goes through your blood common length. vessels. Now you know how his nose could glow! (8) Dwarfism is a condition caused by abnormal (4) The Real Story of Rudolfina Besides the mystery genetics or other medical conditions that stunt behind Rudolf’s nose, there’s also some question growth. However, can there be people who are about Rudolf’s biological sex. We have always actually just normally small in size? In 2003, scientists assumed that Rudolf was a boy, but what if Rudolf is discovered the skeleton of a small human that they actually Rudolfina! Most people point to Rudolf’s nicknamed “the Hobbit” in a cave on a small island antlers as proof that he’s a boy, however, reindeer are called Flores, in Indonesia. Later, testing and analysis the only species where the females also grow antlers. would reveal that this small skeleton belonged to an Unlike horns, which are body parts that grow through extinct type of human called Homo floresienis. The an entire lifetime, antlers are structures that are remains were of a 30 year old female who was 3.5 seasonal and fall off and regrow every year. Both feet tall (1m) and roughly weighing 55lb (25kg) when males and females shed and regrow new antlers alive. The scientists named her LB1 and called her Flo. annually. Males grow their antlers to fight each other Further studies revealed that she did not suffer from for mating territory and access to females. Once the any diseases that would have stunted her growth. In mating season is finished in early December, males fact, Flo was not strange for her species at all. On have no more use for their antlers and they get shed average, Homo floresienis adults were under 4 feet at that time because antlers take a lot of energy for tall. The fossil records show that Homo floresienis their bodies to maintain. The females, however, keep probably evolved from Homo erectus that came to the their antlers all through the winter and early spring to island over a million years ago. Homo erectus is an fight each other for food so that they can ensure ancestor of Homo sapiens and was roughly around the adequate nutrition for their growing babies. It’s not same size as modern humans. One hypothesis as to until spring time, when food becomes more plentiful, why Homo floresienis is so small is that after arriving that the females shed their antlers. Due to the timing to Flores, Homo erectus began to rapidly evolve into a of when antlers are shed, there is no way that any smaller form due to a process called insular dwarfism. reindeer with antlers during Christmas could be a boy. (9) Insular dwarfism is seen in situations where large (5) So there you have it! Rudolf is a female reindeer animals become smaller over generations if they are that has found a delicious secret patch of isolated to areas that have limited food resources. bioluminescent lichen. Of course, she’ll keep this to Islands, like Flores, which are food resource poor, are herself so that she’ll be the only one with a “foxfire” prime examples of this. When food is scarce, this is a nose. disadvantage to larger members of a population because there isn’t enough food to maintain the (6) Size Does Matter Besides his reindeer, Santa also optimum health of a large-sized body. Smaller surrounds himself with elves. Technically, elves are individuals in the population will find it easier to small supernatural human-like creatures that maintain better health because they don’t need to originate from Germanic mythology and folklore. find as much food. They will be the ones to survive and pass on their genes for small stature to the next generation. Over time, these conditions favor the evolution of smaller and smaller body sizes. (10) There are plenty of modern day examples. One example is the island fox found on the Channel Islands of California. Island foxes weigh between 2 to 6 lbs while their mainland relatives, the grey foxes, weigh between 8 to 15 lbs. © Tangstar Science Dwarf elephants, antelopes, snakes, tigers, lemurs and many other animals have transformed from bigger to smaller versions due to insular dwarfism. (11) Could Santa have become the beneficiary of insular dwarfism? Perhaps many years ago, Santa invited people to work for him making toys. Due to the limited resources in the North Pole, the people got smaller and smaller throughout the generations until they became so small we began to call them elves. (12) What Nice Hair You Have Santa Santa is easily recognizable because of his red suit, big belly and flowing white hair and beard. Have you ever wondered why Santa’s hair (or anybody’s hair for that matter) is white? (13) Hair color is produced by cells found in the with an increased application of bleach does the follicles of the hair shaft. These cells are called pheomelanin break down leaving the hair without any melanocytes which produce a pigment called melanin pigment. Now that the hair is colorless, it can be which gives hair its color. Melanocytes inject the treated with whatever color the client wants. melanin into the hair shaft as the hair is being created to give hair color. Melanin also happens to be the (16) So what has happened to Santa’s hair? Well, pigment that produces the diversity of skin colors of Santa is old, and as you get older, your melanocytes the different racial and ethnic groups around the stop producing as much melanin.