Why Does Rudolph's Nose Glow Red?

of Rudolph's nose. But how does Rudolph's nose actually work? How can one reindeer create a light bright enough to bleed us Leigh through darkness and inclement weather, And how can a reindeer even have a glowing red nose in the first place. Although no one may ever know for sure just how Rudolph got his unusual nose, we think the most logical explanation is, of course science. A Rudolph could use something many organisms use on Earth in order

to create natural light, a neat trick called bioluminescence. In luminescent animals and fungi chemical compounds mixed together to produce a glow. It's a lot like the way that substances inside a light stick combined to make light. The reasons vary. Of fireflies, for instance, flashlight at each other to communicate and attract mates, while some animals that live very deep in the ocean use light to attract or spot prey,

or to confuse and escape from predators. In some parts of the ocean, these animals, not the sun, are the primary source of light. So let's talk about the parts of Rudolph's nose. It starts just like any other reindeer nose. He breeds oxygen through it, and it's made up of two layers of skin, the dermis, which is the thick inner layer of skin that contains blood vessels and hair follicles, and the epidermis, which is the thin outer layer that

you can see and touch. A couple of extras, however, would set Rudolf apart from all the other reindeer, though of course there's no scientific basis for them excluding him from their gains. It seems most likely that Rudolph additionally has a thin, enclosed layer of a light producing organ between the dermis and the epidermis. In general, bioluminescence involves the combination of two types of substances. One is a luciferin, or a light producing substance. The other is a lucifer race,

or an enzyme that catalyzes the reaction. The terms luciferin and lucifer race of both come from the Latin term lucifer which means light bringer and is also the basis for the name lucifer in the Bible and folklore, but luciferin and luciferase are generic terms rather than the names of particular chemicals. Lots of different substances can act like lucifer ins and lucifer races, depending on the species of

the bioluminescent liform. For example, some luciferens are to chlorophyll, while others seem to be manufactured from the food that the animal eats. In the organism, something triggers the reaction, maybe a neurological process, maybe a chemical shift. Okay, So in Rudolph's case, there's a layer in his nose where these substances occur and can combine, thus putting out photons of light. But bioluminescent light forms pretty exclusively produce blue

green light. So how is Rudolph's nose red. There is a type of deep sea fish known as a stop light loose jaw that can glow red even though the light that it produces starts out greenish blue. What's going on there is that it's bioluminescent organ also contains a type of protein that can absorb that light and then fluoresce in red. Rudolph must have a similar thing, and Rudolph's nose is likely able to get so bright because of a sort of secret ingredient that we haven't talked

about yet. A bioluminescence often requires another substance, like oxygen, in order to make light, and because Rudolph produces light in his nose, it only makes sense that his nose would shine intensely because as he breathes in oxygen, it creates plenty of opportunity for the reaction to happen and light to be produced. So we know that Rudolph stands out a bit from other reindeer, But how could he

be the only reindeer with this big, glowing nose. It's possible that Rudolph's glowing honker could be a reindeer ativism, and ativism is a trait of distant ancestors that randomly pops up in modern day organisms, unlike a human with a tail. These traits may have served a purpose for the animal way back when, but for whatever reason, the trait was silenced over time and only makes rare triumphant returns in modern times. Perhaps distant reindeer ancestors of Rudolph's

produced light to survive in the wild. You'll find most reindeer in Scandinavia, and it does get pretty dark there during the long winter nights, so perhaps some of Rudolph's ancestors required a better way to get around at night. The genetic trait may have popped back up randomly and Rudolph or was perhaps the result of rapid evolution, in which a species could adapt in just a few generations

based on the animal's needs. For example, there are mosquitoes living in the London underground that only moved in there in the eighteen sixties, but are now so different from there above ground cousins that they can't reproduce with each other. So maybe Rudolph's parents and grandparents had very bad eyesight and rapid evolution came to the recipe to help compensate and saving Christmas was just a lucky accident. Today's episode is based on the article why is Rudolph's Nose Red?

On housetop works dot com written by John Fuller, with additional material from the article how by Luminescence Works written by Tracey Vie Wilson. Brain Stuff is production by Heart Radio and partnership with how stuffworks dot com and is produced by Tyler Clang. Four more podcasts from my heart Radio because the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.