A man notices that a
beef bone that his dog had been chewing all day is lying on the floor of his dark bedroom ...
glowing in patches. He looked at a similar bone that had been sitting in the
refrigerator and it is also glowing. This phenomenon has also been reported in
meat packing plants where the bones at night assumed an eerie glow.
This is not the ghost of the animal, returning to haunt fragments of its skeleton. Rather, its an example of bioluminescence. Bacteria such as Staphlococcus aureus and Bacillus subtilis can generate compounds that phosphoresce. It is believed that many of these compounds are porphoryn containing proteins. The same phenomenon has been observed in milk going bad, urine and serum.
Assimilated from - The New Scientist, beef bone story contributed by Bill Herley
For other bacterial mysteries see: