In the Beginning was Information

All human nutritional problems could be solved if only we could imitatethese animals. But photosynthesis is such a brilliant information controlledprocess that it is not really understood; it is also impossible to copyit chemotechnically. It has not yet been possible to imitate the above mentionedanimals by utilising and preserving chloroplasts (the chlorophyllorganelles) with their functions intact, outside of leaf cells.A3.4.2 Animals with “Lamps”As far as energy is concerned, there is another extremely interesting phenomenonexhibited by many sea animals and some simple land animals(e. g. glowworms; see details in [G15]), namely bioluminescence (Latinlumen = light). These organisms can emit light of various colours (red, yellow,green, blue, or violet) and in different signal sequences. When technologicallight production is compared to bioluminescence, the former provesto be extremely inefficient as far as energy input is concerned. Normally anelectric light bulb only converts 3 to 4 percent of the applied energy intolight, and the efficiency of a fluorescent tube is only about 10 %. Our lampscould be considered to be heat generators rather than radiators of light.Bioluminescence, being an invention of the Creator, involves the radiationof cold light – a reaction which no man has yet been able to copy. In thisprocess certain illuminative substances (luciferin) are oxidised by anenzyme called luciferase. Three fundamentally different types of luciferincan be distinguished, namely that of bacteria, that of fireflies, and that ofthe Cypridina. An American biochemist, professor W. D. McElroy, wasable to quantify the efficiency of this type of light production. It wasfound that each and every quantum of energy transported to the lightorgan in the form of ATP 28 was converted to light. The number of oxidisedluciferin molecules is exactly equal to the number of emitted lightquanta. All the light emitted by a firefly is “cold” light, which means thatthere is no loss of energy through the radiation of heat. We are thus dealingwith lamps which are 100 % efficient because of the complete conversionof energy into light.Many bacteria, tiny organisms, insects, and deepsea fishes especially, havebeen equipped with this method of producing light by the Creator. The bestknown examples are the fireflies and the glowworms (Lampyris and Phausis).Most of the subtropical and tropical lampiryds can emit deliberatesequences of flashes; the European ones are not able to do this. In experi-28 ATP (= adenosin triphosphate) is a macro-molecule used for the storage and transportationof energy in living cells (see paragraph A3.3).238