Not Your Average Desk Lamp

What happens when jellyfish die is anyone's guess: most likely, some other ocean creature eats them. Gross, sure. But for some jellyfish, those that died from natural causes, their afterlife is spent lighting up rooms, in the form of glow-in-the-dark lamps.

The jellyfish lamps still look pretty cool when they're not glowing.

A company based in the U.S., called The Amazing Jellyfish, takes the bodies of deceased jellyfish and encases them in resin, which preserves not only their bodies, but their bioluminescent properties.

Jellyfish glow thanks to phospur proteins in their bodies, which are part of their natural defense mechanisms against predators.

After the jellyfish dies, the company freezes its body in liquid nitrogen, then cases it in crystalline resin. No extra electricity is needed for these "lamps" to work, too—the light jellyfish emit in a darkened room has been absorbed during daylight hours. 

The lamps are made from various jellyfish breeds, and for those who are worried if knocking the lamp over could get really, super gross, not to worry—the transparent resin, crystalline epoxy, is shatterproof.

[Source: Daily Mail]