How Fireflies Glow – The Chemistry of Bioluminescence
November 10, 2021 • EPISODE 95
What makes fireflies glow? Join Roger Billings as he helps students explore the enchanting world of fireflies! Discover the amazing chemistry behind their glow and see how these tiny creatures light up the night with their bioluminescence.

About DrB
Dr. Roger Billings is a visionary innovator whose work has touched the lives of millions of students and transformed the landscape of education. Widely known as “DrB” to the countless kids who benefit from his groundbreaking Acellus learning system, Dr. Billings has dedicated his life to advancing education through technology.
As part of DrB’s lifelong commitment to supporting education, Science LIVE was launched as a way to “give back” by mentoring students in conjunction with the Roger Billings Scholarship Program.
Read more about DrB »
About the Roger Billings Scholarship Program »



That was a beautiful song about fireflies.
I want to make a robotic fire fly
This is my favorite video Fireflies are amazing
the song made me cry. fireflies are so pretty
That’s pretty cool I didn’t know that, I’ve always loved fireflies there cool
I want to catch a Firefly!!!
I want to be friends with pajet
Here in Puerto Rico, we have fireflies too.
I used to catch fire fly’s too!
WOW🤩🤩🤯🤯
When I was little I used to catch fireflies with my mom and we would put them in a mason jar with holes in the top. Fireflies bring back good memories. 😊
We have alot of fireflies here in Tx
Probably, and that episode was so experimental,I love those types of episodes!!!🔬💡❤️👍🧪🎉
She’s my language arts teacher She SINGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
OMG MRS. REBECCA YOU’RE VOICE IS AMAZING!!! I took your math class last year, my favorite lesson was the one you did for April fools day with the “brown E’s” instead of “browines”😂.
SING IT QUEEN✨✨😎😎💋👑💅✨
Mrs. Rebecca has a beautiful voice. 😍
How do u get bioluminescent
I love fire flies
Does anyone know how to get bio-luminescence?
What are some cool things that you can do with it?
Is that what they use to make Glow-Sticks?
Rebecca is my favorite math teacher!!? so she can sing now?!!🤔😳🤔
The is so amazing!!.
can we have random fireflies in the next video.
Why was that song kind of 🥹 Mrs.Rebecca has a beautiful 🇺🇸
It ‘s cool how the embers ignite in the oxygen
How do you get bioluminescent?
That was so cool!
Omg!! Rebecca your voice is so beautiful!! 😘😘😘☺️☺️☺️
This is mind blowing! Fireflies are cool!
I love bugs
can we learn how the rattle snakes tail rattles please
Prob one of my favorite videos so far!
what other animals are bioluminescent and where are they found?
i love science❤️❤️❤️
The video was about how fireflies are bioluminecent. They produce light by makeing this self made fuel that they can control by using air. They concentrate it to make the light, chemicals in their body make it irredecent. I really liked the song at the end it was very pretty.
Ms Rebecca SINGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ms Rebecca is also my math teacher
I love fireflies
Rebecca is my math teacher😱
Gods creation is so beautiful! Mrs. rebbeca can sing!!!???
How long can a firefly hold its “light” on at one time?
Mind blowing.
That was really neat.
I like catching fireflies.
Rebecca can sing!?! WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I like fireflies.
that was so cool
the way fireflies light up is so amazing. I will also try the firefly catching.
#Rewatchingthisforthe5thtimethisyear😍
GUYS ROGER BILLINGS HAS A SPOTIFY PODCAST I FOUND IT A WHILE AGO!!😱😱 He has all of his episodes all in order too! 😍😍😍🤓🤓😜😝😜😌🙃🤑👻💩😺😻🙈🙉🙊😸😺😸😹🙆💃💃
Heading to Spotify now MEET YALL THERE🚪🏃
nice video!
my favorite element is … radium
That’s was so cool. I’ve heard of luminous but had no idea of its depths. Great video
i enjoy watching fireflies outside at night. i will look at them differently now that i know the science behind them.
Wow I think bioluminescence in cool!
That was a really cool thing that you did with the fire and oxygen.
Fireflies are cool.
Go dr.b
So cool 😎😎😎😎😎😎😎
Wow. I mean, just, wow. God’s creation is amazing and wonderful.
So cool!
this song is fire yal God bless Dr b
i like fire fly and they are cool
Cool
wow The Chemistry of Bioluminescence
That’s mind blowing how that works!!!
I loved the song
This was very interesting. I have seen that they now sell Petunias that will glow at night like fireflies.
Dear Mr B
Congratulations on a successful episode I found the info the the fireflies fascinating including the music too.
God bless.
Tobias is very funny, his Goofy impression was perfect. The discovery in the 1800’s was pretty interesting when learning about incandescent lighting and candle luminescence lighting. Dr. B your experiment on fireflies was amazing, thank you.
how many cells do you think are inside a firefly?
Pajet monet is one of my favorite teachers and it was so cool that you were in the video
did you know that there is a type of firefly called a snappy sync firefly. they are known for their synchronized flashing.
the video was very cool. i didn’t know that fireflies had cells
can you give us a set to do this
Brodee really enjoyed this episode.
hi i luv the veteo
Let’s enter a new world.
This is so cool!
We don’t have fireflies in Texas.
Imagine if humans had bioluminescence. What concepts would be most prominent in life?
We have fireflies where I was born in Ohio
I wish fireflies lived in North Idaho. I wonder why they don’t.
Fireflies are interesting
Fireflies are so interesting and cool
Such an interesting experiment.
Thank you so much that’s so cool.
Awesome video I love Fireflies
It’s neat how bioluminescence works, and it’s cool how there is bioluminescent beaches too!
Love the song it almost let me cry
I love acellus so much you have helped me so much thank you.
Incredible as always…
I loved it! It was very inspiring to learn from! cool school!
I thought it was really cool when he made light using liquids! How does that work? Can I try a similar experiment at home?
THIS IS AWESOME
Fireflies are incredible insects!
awesome!
How does bioluminescence not effect the oceans creatures
Omg this is so cool! I love Fireflies!!💜💜
Roger Billings, you are my Idol, love ya Pajet Monet, I took your class last year and it helped me a lot thank you for the inspiration!💜😇💗💫💫
fireflies are beautiful!
I love acellus
Thank you these are my favorite
That song was a very good song but I almost cried. I also really loved how Roger Billings was able to make that light like fireflies light they have.
Wow! That’s so cool. 👍😎😆🤩😁
I love fireflies
So cool
I love science
bioluminescence is so cool!
I just learned about luminous light and illuminated on science yesterday!
Fire fly are cooler then I thought.
so cool i love fire flys
Never knew how interesting the science behind how fireflies was, how exciting!!!
I loved learning about the fireflies. They are so fun in the summertime.
whenever i think of bioluminescent i think of deep sea creatures but i think its cool how fireflys can talk to one another using bioluminescents and i also really liked the experiment also, i used to catch fireflys all the time. My dog ate on once, the song at the end sounds nice
I love fireflies
Fireflies are so crazy they can fly and have bioluminescence, what a cool bug.
We call them lightning bugs.
I loved the song at the end.
I loved watching the experiment.
Wow, fireflies are so cool!
I’ve never really thought about how a firefly lights up. It’s interesting to hear about the science behind how it is able to do it.
I never knew that bioluminescence was so bright and colorful. I loved the way the fireflies bioluminescence glow at night. I hope you can show us a video about how to catch fireflies. So awsome!
I’ve never seen fireflies before but knowing how they work is amazing!
my brother and i always used to fight over who got to catch the fireflies.
Love the song I wish the fireflies would actually chase the hard times away
Bionic video please🦿🦾
I love bioluminescence, especially since I am studying marine biology and currently am studying bioluminescent species of plankton and algae, and how it all works. I really liked it and it was really fun to learn and helpful.
I like fireflies.
one time my big sister caught a fire fly and I wasn’t scared I said wow instead and this video is sooooo cool!
Pajet, can you make a song like that with butterflies?🦋
Fireflies are awesome
I’ve only seen fireflies once but they were amazing!
Fireflies are wonderful I love catching them😸.・゜゜・ ・゜゜・.
wow fireflies wow cool 🙂 🤯.
Fun ☺️
I always wondered how fireflies glow
acellus is the best program I no. and I do not know where I would be if it was not for acellus😘
Used to be scared of fireflies, But they’re very interesting.
That song almost made me cry .I love fireflies!🥹
That made me cry.😥
It is so Fascinating how they glow!!(:
I love this so much
Fireflies light up, and they are cool.
Fireflies are definitely the coolest bug. Can’t wait to see them in the summer!
This was a very cool video, I liked the part where they mixed the chemicals together to make it glow!
I loved learning about fireflies and the chemicals that they use.
Loved this video about Fireflies! So interesting and the song and video made my mom cry a little, it was so beautiful.
fireflyes are neat
the fireflies are so cool.
This changes my mind about fireflys this is so cool.
I love the pictures of the fireflies
I love the lesson very much. It was very, very cool and the song at the end was very much beautiful and I’d really like science live.
I didn’t know that fireflies glowed
What is the firefly really named for? When was the firefly named? And how do they inspire and what do they represent?
I will NEVER look at fire flies the same..lol
I like to catch fireflies, they are so cool.
Hi Dr. Roger Billings I like Acellus🦸🏻♂️🦸🏻🏇🪖🪖
Lighting is also how nitrogen gets into your soil for agriculture! That and or growing beans…
I never knew where that phrase had come from!
she is my favorte techer
Are the bioluminescence that fireflies use the same as the bioluminescence that some creatures deep in the ocean have?
I wish we had fireflies here. I miss the from where we used to live. Thank you!
Wow thats so cool how fireflies glow like that!!
Its amazing the way they produce light!
Very interesting. We hardly have them here in eastern North Carolina like we used to when I was younger.
So cool to watch fireflies. So neat to find out why they glow.
This is so cool all the chemicals that make up light in a bug or a lightbulb or anything that glows is so magical
The funny fact is that Fireflies glow is like a secret light show they can turn on and off at will! Thanks for teaching us.
This was so cool to hear about!
Where do fireflies live? It is cool how they glow, I didn’t know that.
It’s really cool how you showed the oxygen in the flask making the flame go again. The stick was just glowing and then ignited further when pushed into the oxygen filled flask!
Wow fireflies are so awesome!
I love fireflies, this was very interesting.
That’s amazing guys, thank you for teaching us all of that
Fireflies are so cool!
How fascinating that fireflies cannot glow in all colors!
love the chem hope to see it more love it.
Amazing! Yeah. some glow Blue!
Wow that was something I haven’t seen before!!
That was cool!