Topic Selection for Final Project

Fist, I picked the TED talk theme called Ocean Stories. The topic that I've decided to focus on is bioluminescence in deep sea creatures. Bioluminescence is the production of light by an organism, most fish use it to hunt, keep from being hunted or attract a mate. I'm interested in this topic because it amazes me that fish can spontaneously create light. I also think more people would be interested to learn about it because it's not well known yet and seems to be a phenomena. I think it will be a challenging thing to learn about, because it is a specified topic and not very many people research it. The two talks that got me interested in the topic were both given by Edith Widder. The talks are called Glowing Life in an Underwater World and The Weird, Wonderful World of Bioluminescence. After the talks I had several questions about bioluminescence that I hope to answer over the course of this project.

• What causes bioluminescence? 
• Where and why do sea creatures use it? 
• What percent of ocean animals make light? 
• What kinds of creatures use it? 
• When comparing internal and external  bioluminescence, which is more effective and why? 
• What effect does bioluminescence from one sea creature have on other sea creature that cannot create light?