Light From Chemistry
September 24, 2025 • EPISODE 279
What is chemiluminescence? It’s the process of producing light through chemistry—no electricity required. In this episode of Science LIVE, Dr. Roger Billings explains how chemical reactions can generate light, from fireflies and glowing oceans to everyday glow sticks. Explore the science behind these luminous phenomena and discover how nature and technology both harness the power of chemiluminescence.
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 is crazy fossil fuels form over millions of years
i love cute insects like butterflies and ladybugs.
I love Acellus helps me learn so much and I feel like I am enjoining what I learn everyday!
Fireflies are so cool!
I don’t love bugs but the fireflies were cool!
“I went to antique store and they wouldn’t let me leave ” THAT got me so good 😂🤣😄
i love bugs too lol :3
I like Acellus 👍 👌
Science has definitely become my new favorite subject since starting Acellus I’m so so eager in learning more
Is it the same chemical in all the creatures that produce bioluminescence? Or are they all different chemicals in each of the creatures?
do you think these chemicals are what create the northern lights?
I love lemons
R-51 was funny with the firefly and lemon. But I like to catch grasshoppers.
Is it harder for people to invent things than when Benjamin Franklin was inventing in discovering things?
Is the hydrogen rift a fault line and do we have to worry about it breaking apart?
There is enough hydrogen seeping up from the Earth to supply the world with energy for many years, however, scientists are trying to find better ways to actually access this hydrogen.
It’s amazing to me how beautiful bioluminescence is in nature.
Wow! I had no idea this is how light through chemistry worked!
I like Fireflys.🔥
I adore fireflies ! WE have lots in our backyard every summer, especially around the 4th of July. I love watching my dogs try to catch them 🙂
This is a brilliant example of how chemistry can create such a beautiful natural phenomenon ❤️
We have fireflies all over our yard. We love catching them in a jar and looking more closely at them and releasing them.
Wow, this video was so interesting! I loved learning about how paper was invented in ancient China, it’s crazy how much that invention shaped communication and history. And the part about fireflies was amazing too! I never knew they produced light through a chemical reaction, which shows how nature is seriously awesome.
I love bugs. They are my favorite, except spiders…
I love fireflies! They are cool!
I love Acellus!!
So cool to learn about chemical reactions in nature.
“I went to antique store and they wouldn’t let me leave “ got me cracking up 😂
I would love to see a video that goes into detail about the different chemical reactions that cause various metals to burn with distinct colors. The video was good!
I’ve always found fireflies very fascinating, I really enjoyed this!
God bless, Acellus!!!!
I love Acellus, it helps me learn so well.
I thought the thing in the beginning about being dehydrated and stress was very interesting
Fireflies are some of my favorite bugs.
I love watching science live!
I Love fireflies. Living in the south we have them everywhere. The huge tree in my backyard looks like a fairy tree with all the fireflies glowing all summer.
I’ve never seen real fireflies, I would love to see some.
I’ve always found fireflies very cool
Firefly part was cool.
The fairy circle in Brazil is huge and I’ve seen big ones.
I’m glad I learned more today about Acellus Gold, I’m going to look into this for my son. Very cool to see the information on the bioluminescent cells in the ocean and other living things.
This episode was so interesting especially learning about how fireflies produce light.
I love fireflies so glad I watched this video
I like that Acellus sets my goals for me so that I can stay on track.
Hi from Atlanta
Hydrogen is a gift from God waiting to be harnessed
I want to cash in for a sweatshirt in the Acellus store!
I loved learning about these organisms and the light they produce.
I love fireflies, they’re awesome!
Fireflies are truly fascinating, and it’s amazing to know that they produce light through a chemical reaction. I also really enjoyed learning about the invention of paper in China.
I didn’t know that fireflies light was produced through a chemical reaction
This episode was awesome! But I don’t think 51 really created fireflies.
My mom and I made homemade paper once…that was fun!!
Watching from Mexico. Love the videos
Im watchng from the state of Mississippi.
Loved learning about fireflies
I like seeing fireflies at night.
That’s so cool how the Chinese made paper cups! Watching from Alabama.
My first grader really enjoyed this video on biolumeneces.
Hi. Watching from KY
As a full time employee, student and mom, I find that including my son when creating his daily schedule puts him in a better mood to learn and allows me to tackle my daily tasks .
hi my name is Luke and I used to be an Acellus student but my mom and dad took me out and made my do Abeka but my heart stays here with Acellus I have been listening to a Screen recording of Dr. Pajet Monet Where do you go it helps me get over what has been happing with my family my dad has been in the hospitly for months and I am 12 my brother is 13 and my other brother is 6 and also my aunt died a few weeks ago and I was very close to her. So listening to Dr. Pajet Monet is helping me so much I love you Pajet you mean so much to me ty for all you have done for me❤. LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!
I absolutely love every one of these videos. I learn a lot every week. How many things have hydrogen in it?
R.51 went a little crazy, if firefly’s had lemons in their tails I would of eaten them all by now!
I didn’t know a fireflies light was a chemical reaction, that’s interesting!
I’ve always admired fireflies it was so fascinating learning so much about them.
Earning gold credits is a great idea,
wow! l love fireflies so much, i think after this they are my favorite bug! so very interesting to learn about.
catching up on the episodes and plan to do the next one tomorrow! Also i used to love fireflies as a kid so getting them mentioned and to learn more about them was very cool!
The part where your pouring the chemicals is so cool!
I like learning about how paper was made. I hate wasps but that is cool.
Fireflies are so cool! Is Bioluminescence a rare chemical reaction in wildlife?
I love watching fireflies as they are so bright and now I know more info about them and why they are lit up little creatures that are so fun to watch at night.
I’ve never heard about bioluminescence, but hearing how it worked and what it is was super fascinating!
an enlightening experience.
I think PG should stand for pretty gorgeous
I didn’t know that fireflies light was produced through a chemical reaction! That is so cool!
I think bioluminescence is really awesome.
I always knew about bioluminescence, but hearing about the reason it’s there in the first place was super cool!
Wow! I didn’t know that China invented paper.
So a fireflies light is created by a chemical reaction?
Bioluminescence is fascinating!! I hope to see it in person one day.
I love Dr. TOBIAS he’s 🤣 love the live stream keep up the great work. 👍
It’s amazing what fireflies can do
Wow, Dr. Billings
maybe r. 51 is right, “when life gives you lemons, make fireflies.”
spoken by a real scientist😂🤣😁😊🥳😅😍🤩^_^
I enjoyed this lesson so much 😊💕
Fireflies are interesting
I love fireflies
I used to catch fireflies all the time when I was younger!!
I’ve always thought fireflies were really interesting, I really liked this episode!
Fireflies are very cool!
So interesting! I’m curious as to why the dry patches in the ground were given the name “fairy holes”? Its also so cool to learn all about how fireflies work!
Why do different elements give off different colors of light?
Enjoyed learning and watching Dr. Billings doing chemistry in the dark. Also I loved the super wood .
Hey Dr B, I just want you to know that I look up to you and your work more than you will ever know. It is very inspiring the way you carry yourself in your success.
When life gives you lemons🍋 make fireflies 🪰
Fireflies using their lights to communicate is so cool!
I wonder if those fairy circles are anything like crop circles.. maybe what is happening is very similar. Interesting to find out! It’s amazing to me that there are still so many mysteries in the world that can be solved by simple science.
Fireflies are beautiful. I used to catch them when I was little.
I love fireflies !
💕💕
I love to catch fireflies in the summer!
This was super cool!
I really liked learning about fireflies.
We call them lightning bugs! They’re one of the only bugs I really love, I used to catch them in jars and watch them but always (ALWAYS!) release them before bed. And poke holes in the jar because suffocating them isn’t the goal. Especially as their numbers go down year by year.
We have lightening bugs at our house but not many. My mom said she use to catch them and put them in jars for a while then she would turn them loose when my nannie made them come inside. But there’s not that many around us now. Thank you for the cool video about them and the glow stuff in the ocean.
Never knew fireflies communicated by light, it’s pretty cool though. Thank you for sharing that about them makes me love fireflies even more!!
I love chemistry, fireflies are so cool!
The part about the fireflies were pretty interesting.
Fireflies are amazing! I wonder if they live anywhere in my state?
Loved learning about the fireflies. We always sit out at night and watch them flutter around.
Super cool how paper was made. My family and I once went to a paper museum and learned to make paper, as shown in the video. It was a lot fun.
I dislike bugs but fireflies are so interesting I like them anyway!
Where we live we have fireflies, we used to catch them in jars, such amazing little bugs, even more so now that we know how they work! Thanks Dr.B for these amazing science lives every Wednesday!
fireflys are so cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Fireflies are absolutely fascinating—the way they communicate with light feels like nature’s own secret language. Loved learning more about them in this podcast
I always liked seeing fireflies and how they glow in the dark and this video gave a lot of info and how they do it
So the stuff in the ocean and the firefly use the same stuff to glow?
So Fairy Circles are caused by hydrogen gases?
Hi, my name is Makayla, I have been in Acellus for 7 years, and it as helped me a lot, I would recommend this home school to everyone! So I say thank you for helping us to learn. And I say thank you for Science life, it improves our skill. Thank you Dr. Roger Billings and Lady Pajet.
I love the r-51 segments! He’s hilarious. And the bit about fireflies is so remarkable!
I love fireflys!!!!!
wow I LOVE the part about fireflys !!!!!!!!!!! looking forward to tomorrow’s video!!!!
fireflies might be my favorite animal now
fireflys are so cool
I found this episode of Science LIVE very interesting; love it💕💙, thanks to all the staff!!!😁🤩👍
Remember guys, when life gives you lemons, make fireflies!🤣😂 oh my, hilarious i love it
This is so cool! Has anyone else watched the other science live on fireflies?
I love firefly’s so this was so cool as well as fun to learn about!
So is the water we drink burnt Hydrogen?
The part about fireflies was very interesting!
I want to see a firefly in person some day.
I loved how they included information about making paper, I never saw anything about this before. It was really interesting.
R-51 is so silly, and the way that he thought that fireflies used lemons to create light is so silly. sometimes i can’t believe the jokes R-51 MAKES.
I love R.51!!!!!
I really like how they showed the lady making paper. It would be fun to try to make paper myself.
I really enjoyed the part about fireflies 💯
In this episode of Science Live, I loved learning about how paper was first created and how it changed the world. I also enjoyed learning about the fireflies; it was funny to listen to R-51 talk about how he created fireflies by using lemons to power them.
So cool!
Thank u, Roger Billings, for making science so fun! I really liked this week’s Science Live.
How do those light producing algea form in the ocean?
Dr. Billing is really amazing and when he talks on science live with Dr. Pajet it really inspires me, and all though I didn’t watch this episode live because it was my birthday but I love it either way
I found the segment where he talked about the chemical which makes fireflies glow incredibly interesting and factual. Thank you, Dr. Roger Bilings.
I enjoyed the light project. Lady Pajet, you are a living light. . We should all strive to be that. It would make our world a better place.
What if fireflies really are mosquitoes with lantens?
The glowing algae is like water fireflies. They are beautiful
My favorite part was when r51 said that fireflies have lemons in their tail.
Are Mr. Roger and Mr. Elon ever going to come up with an invention together?
Will you be making another shirt with R-51 that says, “When life gives you lemons, make fireflies!”?
First, I want to say that I absolutely love your videos—they’re both educational and really fun to listen to. I especially enjoyed learning about Cai Lun and how he invented paper during the Han Dynasty. I also found it fascinating to hear about algae blooms and how they can make the ocean waves look even more beautiful. Your video about fireflies brought back memories of summer nights spent outside my house with my family, enjoying the simple beauty of life—just like the glow of a firefly.
I liked Dr. John’s lesson on the phenomenon ‘fairy circles’ and what they exactly are. I’ve never heard of these ‘fairy circles’ but I’m glad I have now! It’s amazing that researchers have found that the circles are created from hydrogen seeping through the soil and that there is a bigger source of reoccurring hydrogen in a similar way from the circles in the Mid-Continental Rift that almost split the continent in two! It’s so interesting that the earth can create all the necessary gasses and provide enough resources for both life and the planet itself to sustain changes. My theory is going to be similar to the ones mentioned, I believe that the hydrogen is being created down inside the earth from friction and is rising through the crack of the rift. I loved Mr. Billings lesson on the insight of Acellus from public schools, Algae that creates light, where Pajet is from, and Elon Musk’s satellites. I really enjoyed the lesson on the one-cell algae that uses chemical reactions to create light to fend off predators. I especially loved when you were able to create the actual light using hydrogen peroxide and a ‘magic chemical’, that was so incredible! I can’t believe you were able to simulate it! I also enjoyed the lesson on Fireflies and how their biology for their lights is similar to the algae. It is amazing to hear that R-51 has found where Pajet comes from, maybe he can attempt to make contact on the planet and see if there are any more Pajet’s there? I do have a question, since you mentioned Elon Musk’s satellites he put up a few years ago, do you think that Elon could ever create the technology for flying cars?
I’m simply fascinated from this revelation in the biology of fireflies and plankton it must be absolutely marvelous to take a stroll on a beach with those creatures in the water. That story of planet PG is so incredibly poetic I’m nearly brought to tears.
We have a lot of fireflies where cottages are. The experiment with the lemons is so cool! I would love to try that!
51, fireflies run on bioluminescence, not lemons!
Fireflies are really interesting creatures. Bioluminescence is a really marvelous thing, it’s crazy how wonderfully designed these creatures are.
I’ve always been fascinated by luminescent microorganisms and fireflies. Thank you so much for shedding light on this topic; it was very interesting. I also want to ask, would you ever consider working with Elon Musk?
I can’t believe that R 51 thought that fireflies have lemons in their tails!!!🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣. I luv R 51. He is GREAT!🥰🥰😉. Tell him that Sadie Prest, thinks that he is the best part of science live!
Bioluminescence is amazing and beautiful! Thank you Dr. Roger Billings for Science live, keep it up!!
What a great way to take time to watch bees and how they build hives and think to make paper using the same concept.
Fireflies happen to be one of our favorites.
We absolutely love this program of Acellus and we appreciate you sharing about it.
I this is one of the best episode! That experiment was so cool Dr. Roger billings. I love you guys.
It’s encouraging to know that Dr. Roger Billings wants us to succeed and achieve our goals, igniting the world with our light, like fireflies.
R51 is hilarious. Where I live, we call fireflies lightning bugs.
when life gives you lemons make FIREFLIES! is my new favorate r 51 quote.
I’ll definitely check out Rogerbillings.com And what an amazing episode I’m always inspired by Dr. Billings wise words!
Thank you for another wonderful video. It was wonderful and what Tobias talked about regarding the paper is just phenomenal. And what Dr. B shared about the bio luminescence is just so cool! 😎 Thank you for another wonderful video and I also really laughed at R-51. 😂
Love Pajet’s pink outfit!
We have lots of fireflies in Texas. we love to try and catch them. I’m with Lady Pajet, just realizing bio luminescence meant light of life.
I read the Legend of Pajet Monet and it was hilarious!
Roger Billings, you are incredible! Sometimes I wonder how you have such courage to go on a stage like that! And by the way, this is the most “illuminating” and interesting facts about fireflies I’ve heard all day. And how does Pajet Monet seem to have such a beautiful and yet elaborate (in a good way) outfits each time, cuz I got to know her secret!
This last part about “the story of pajet” is hilarious!!
The experiment was so cool! When life gives you lemons make fireflies. 😉 hahaha. Lady Pajet you are really pretty, love your necklace btw.
Dr roger billings was talking about elon musks ai and im very excited to see where ai goes and how it can help us progress espically through the use of quantum computers
Great Show again!
Question on the Fireflies:
What makes them nostalgic? Like when i see them i feel like a happy, kinda sad feeling. I think Pajet Monet would be able to answer this.
Question for the “Fairies”:
These Hydrogen spots that were talked about, Do you think these could pontentialy lead to fuel for rockets?
I’m very curious on rocket science, and would love to hear about the principles of propulsion, thrust, and aerodynamics. Thanks!
Just wanted to say that last weeks science live changed my life in a way, so I so deeply want to say thank you to Roger Billings for his time and beautiful encouraging words!
Hello Science Live! The “documentary” about Pajet Monet’s origins was hilarious! Also, the history lesson on paper and the history of its invention was very fascinating. I’ve actually seen how paper is made and how you can take old paper and recycle it to make new paper. Thank you Science Live and have a fantastic day!
She Really Does Have a angel Like Personality and Pajet You are Genuinly a Living Angel!!!!!!!!! And when I say that I am Being Awesome!!!! Have a Good Night!!!! Bye!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 😀