If you sit at night by the pool at Gecko Villa, you may well see what appear to be bright green lights flashing in the night sky, dancing glimmering attendance on the trees and bushes. If you have not had too many Gecko Bites (our special cocktail), then you are watching magical fireflies at work (Hing Hoi as we know them.) This is one insect that does not form part of our spicy local Thai food diet! Sit still, and one may land on your lap and continue winking at you in bioluminescent green.

Perhaps the firefly is a fallen angel, a misguided light seeking its way back to the ethers: the molecule that generates this spectacular light is termed "luciferase". This has been the subject of much research by molecular biologists, trying to comprehend our circadian rhythms.

The male firefly deploys his blinking greens as a mating call, to which the female will responds with a similar flash when impressed by the show. Research shows that the faster the flash, the more popular the male. They have light generation down to the finest of arts. Whilst light bulbs typically emit 97% of their energy as heat, the firefly has this down to a mere and ecologically-minded 3%. They may not be aware of this, but do so through a chemical reaction between the molecule luciferin and the enzyme luciferase in the presence of oxygen in the firefly's abdomen, using the energy from adenosine triphosphate or ATP. Scientists have demonstrated that perhaps all animals have molecular clocks in virtually every cell of their bodies.

Fireflies in Thailand are very social creatures, and have become renowned for their ability to orchestrate their flashings, blinking in simultaneous rhythm. The logic behind these illuminated thoughts is unclear, although some believe that the males agree to dark periods the better to spy the females, whose glimmering is more faint. Others believe that the males have ganged together to imitate a “supermale”: an enormous glowing dance that cannot fail to impress!

Gene that makes them glow also makes cancer cells vulnerable to treatment. Researchers have now inserted the gene that creates bioluminescent light into modified cancer cells, to make them glow. Adding a photosensitizing agent to the cancer cells, toxic substances were generated that killed the cancer cells.

These fireflies are part of the beetle family Lampyridae (the "Shining Ones"), which morph into glowing fireflies and perform this seductive ritual dance for only the last three weeks or so of their life. Their unique show is thus a call to reproduction, a harbinger of death, and a possible clue to wiping the scourge of cancer from the world...