Your Friends Say You’re Glowing, and Science Says You Literally Are

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When your friends said you were glowing, I bet you didn’t think science would be there to second that. But science says you’re literally glowing, and what it means for life is wild.

Why You Glow

According to Popular Mechanics, scientists have confirmed that “You are glowing right now. And when you die, that light disappears.” This glow is made by what is known in science as biophotons or ultraweak photons. At the University of Calgary, scientists have analyzed these photons in mice before death and after death. They found the glow rapidly dimmed when an organism died.

For anybody doubting the science, the senior author of the study Dan Oblak has something to say. “The fact that ultraweak photon emission is a real thing is undeniable at this point. This really shows that this is not just an imperfection or caused by other biological processes. It’s really something that comes from all living things,” he reportedly told New Scientist.

Oblak and his team captured two one-hour exposures in realtime.

The process to collect this data wasn’t easy. It required advanced digital cameras that could capture individual photons emitted by four mice. Oblak and his team captured two one-hour exposures in realtime. The live and dead mice were given a “30-minute dark acclimation period before imaging.”

Popular Mechanics writes, “The results show a clear distinction between ultraweak photon emissions (UPEs) between the live and dead mice, with lingering emissions corresponding to areas of high metabolic activity in the mouse before death.”

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“While the live mice emit robust UPE, likely indicative of ongoing biological processes and cellular activity, the dead mice’s UPE emission is nearly extinguished, with only a few remaining ‘bright spots’, which correspond to ‘brighter spots’ in living mice, reflecting the cessation of metabolic and energy variation,” the authors wrote.

The Takeaway

Humans actually do glow, according to science. This glow is emitted by biophotons or ultraweak photons. When a living thing dies, the glow rapidly fades away. Further research and refinement of analytical tools might help scientists use biophotons to monitor human health, all without needles. Only time will tell. In between, keep glowing, and check for the follow-up article on what your glow means on a symbolic and practical level.

FOLLOW the author Jermaine Reed, MFA on X @ Jermaine Reed, MFA for his controversial but real hot takes.