Earlier this summer, I found a small wasps’ nest in the Tractorport. I learned that the yellow bits might be fluorescent. Interesting.
So when I noticed wasp activity around the house last week and found a new nest, I bought a UV flashlight to test if the yellow nests are fluorescent.
Yes! So bright. It’s a party nest. Now I want to understand more about that. Where does the material come from? Can I transform it into art? Hmmmm.
Wasps nests aren’t the only thing in my environment that glows under the light. I went out to the the backyard last night and found these beauties:
While there are bioluminescent snails in Japan whose bodies glow, these guys have glowing shells. There were dozens of them in the scope of my light. Unblinking fireflies all over my stone walls and little camellia bush.
Everyday manmade objects glow, too. Some of them were surprising and others just gross. I walked through every room of the house and here are some of the reactions I observed:
The blacklight is good at revealing invisible stains and flecks of grease. My house looks clean under natural light, but it’s not. I will do a deep clean of the kitchen this week.
