But many firefly populations seem to be flickering out. Story highlights Sara Lewis: Firefly populations, which illuminate and enchant on summer evenings, are flickering outLight pollution, pesticides and commercial harvesting are mostly responsible for this, she says. Whatever the explanation, in cultures around the world fireflies elicit a nearly mystical reverence. Maybe it's the way fireflies' resplendent displays can transform our everyday landscapes into places ethereal and otherworldly. Sara Lewis is a professor of evolutionary ecology at Tufts University, and author of Silent Sparks: The Wondrous World of Fireflies (2016, Princeton University Press).

Source: CNN July 31, 2016 14:37 UTC