Ritwik Bhuyan

The Afterlife is also called life after death.

It is a belief in many cultures and religions worldwide that the stream of consciousness or the identity of an individual carries on after the death of the living physical body. There are various ideas about life after death.

Some believe that the crucial aspect of the individual lives on after death in the form of some partial element. Some believe that it is the entire spirit or soul that lives on.

This spirit or soul can contain personal identity, or it might not, as said in Buddhist nirvana. In some cultures, eternal life exists in a spiritual realm. At the same time, in other views, the individual is reborn in the living world and starts the life cycle again.

These individuals have no recollection or memory of their past lives. These deaths and rebirths can occur again until the person gets access to a spiritual realm or Otherworld.

Lightning bugs, or fireflies, are part of the family Coleoptera: Lampyridae.

Scientists and creatives have always been in love with these beneficial insects of the world. They are neither bugs nor flies but actually beetles.

There are more than 2000 species of fireflies in the world. Different species of fireflies have their own flash patterns. They even blink in unity sometimes.

Firefly larvae, also called glowworms, glow to frighten predators. Although they work similarly to a light bulb with heat energy and light, fireflies are known to create light using a chemical reaction called chemiluminescence. This reaction allows them to flash through without utilizing heat energy. All of the energy of a firefly goes into creating light.

A firefly's flashing also increases the metabolic rates of the insect. Fireflies are known to be bioluminescent. They are living creatures that can produce light.

Only some terrestrial insects, like railroad worms and click beetles, can do that. The light produced is used to attract the opposite sex and prey and warn off predators. Even the larvae are known to glow brightly.

If birds or predators feed on these lightning bugs, they won't like the taste of these insects. Fireflies are not seen much in their larvae stage.

They only fly around as adults. Firefly eggs, pupae, and larvae are known to produce light. The parts of fireflies that are known to show light signals are called lanterns.

Fireflies are able to control the flash patterns in their life cycles with nitric oxide and neural stimulation. The males are known to flash in unison with other males during courtship.

Flashing is seen as common in these soft-bodied insects. The colors of these flashing lights are different in different species. Some show orange colors, while there have been instances of yellow-green, bright poppy red, and turquoise colorations.