Fireflies were a part of summer’s magic. Just as the sun set in the humid Midwest, fireflies came out; a blink of light near the garage, a blink across the yard, another blink next to the tree. Sometimes we caught the fireflies in glass bottles and watched their light display up close. Magic. A child’s midsummer delight.

As we learned in our adult years, science will find an explanation for magical delights, given enough time. In her National Geographic column, Weird Animal Questions, Liz Langley address the question that makes my childhood less magical. She asks: how do fireflies glow and what really turns them on?  You can read the entire article at the above link.

The quick summary: an enzyme produces the light in specialized tissue, or a “light organ”  And, the light is all about finding a mate, as we might have guessed. The males flash all kinds of information about themselves through their light and its duration, including their species. A responding female of the same species will also flash, but only intermittently, sort of a “hard-to-get” maneuver on their part. The light also plays a part in turning away predators, which you can read about at the link.

Science! It explains everything, gosh darn it. But the poetic images remain, at least in my mind. And I still feel the child-like joy of a simple summer pleasure. Last night, in the park and before the fireworks, a new generation of children found joy while waving glow sticks, a magical modern-day stand in for the simple firefly, powered by the same chemical! Who knew? Sometimes the present is nearly as good as the past.

Long exposure of fireflies at night in Iowa