Talking to Fireflies

Flash! Flash! Flash! It’s a warm summer evening and the last rays of sunlight are slowly setting. Quick bursts of bright, yellow lights dance above the grass. It’s firefly season.

What’s with all the flashing? That’s the exact question Professor Sara Lewis of Tufts University asked. “I was fascinated by the Morse code that fireflies use to communicate with each other,” Dr. Lewis recalls. After years of study, she uncovered some of the secrets of the floating lights.

Sara grew up a wild child who couldn’t get enough of the diversity of the natural world. She was fascinated with all that the out-of-doors had to offer. By the time she was eight years