16 Christmas Gifts For The Science Nerd In Your Life

4. GloFish

Thought pet goldfish were boring? Think again. These GloFish are like any other fish, apart from the fact that they're flipping fluorescent. GloFish were originally bred for purely scientific purposes. They were genetically modified using genes from naturally fluorescent sea creatures such as jellyfish, coral and sea anemones. Scientists developed them as kind of living pollution indicators, as they were initially designed to glow when pollution levels became too high. They are not injected or treated in any way. These commercially available GloFish inherit their colouring naturally from their parents. Under normal light they appear highlighter-bright, but under a UV light in an otherwise darkened room, they light up like a Christmas tree. That said, it's a bad idea to leave them under UV all the time as goldfish can generally see ultraviolet light. It would be like trying to sleep whilst someone shines a torch in your face. GloFish are available in fluorescent red, green, blue, orange purple and pink from here.