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 ... Read full article.