Parents of inquisitive kids: Listen up. For years, scientists have known the basic ingredients behind a firefly's light. But a new study from the Journal of the American Chemical Society finally answers the question ‘Why do fireflies glow?’ Sarah Sander is a postdoctoral associate of molecular biology and genetics at Cornell University, and she spends many of her summer evenings out in the woods, hunting fireflies. “I usually spend my time driving around the Eastern US with a net, a car full of tubes, and I’m trying to find many different species [of fireflies],” she says. Sander is attempting to do more than collect a few fireflies, she is trying to figure out the genetic makeup of bioluminescent beetles — commonly known as lightning bugs. There are over 2,000 species of fireflies in the world. Some are synchronous fireflies that light up the Great Smoky Mountains. Others don’t glow at all in adulthood. According to Sander however, the flashes of light you might see from a flying i
