bioluminescence

Technically you are, just at a frequency your eyes aren't tuned to see.

Apparently humans actually have zebra stripes when illuminated under the right circumstances.

Yeah in the blacklight at the furry con
- Nuh uh. I'm a Scalie.
Idk if blackbody radiation counts as bioluminescence
Technically humans are also photosynthetic just not in a way that's able to make food.
- Permanently Deleted
What's concerning is figuring out the evolutionary advantage of being able to hide from predators who have eyes 1000x more sensitive to light than anything on Earth...
- Permanently Deleted
Uh yeah, no.

Bioluminescense relies on pigments and specific proteins involved to convert energy to a visible wavelength of light. This isn't the same as the arbitrary calories we burn to maintain homeostasis or the resulting black body radiation.

That being said, gene therapy really has come a long way and bioluminescense is pretty well understood to the point of being an undergrad lab in intro bio, so really, there is nothing stopping you from GMO'ing yourself to have glowing pigments.

Also, if you making the claim we've got zebra stripes under some conditions, please explain those conditions.
- If different types of cells looked different, we would have zebra stripes. I think only geneticly female people would though, for the same reason only geneticly female cats can be calico.
  
  CORRECTION: This happens in both sexes. The difference between cells comes from whether each cell uses one parent's X chromosome or the other parent's. This decision happens when there's just 100 or so cells, so the different cells spread like rock layers as they divide, leaving stripes of them covering the body.

Oh, but you are. You just can't see it.

Be the change you want to see in the world - with Crispr!

- advertising in the future

Pro-Tip: please don't actually do that.:-D

Permanently Deleted
- Someone could step up, and be the first to do that experiment, for the sake of science!?
  
  Pro-Tip: please, Please, PLEASE don't actually do that!:-P
I heard that in my head as a plasmid advertisement from Bioshock.
- As you should... as you should. :-)

There are UV reactive tattoo inks. Not exactly the same but pretty close, and probably safer than trying to manipulate your genes.

They had a whole sets of beauty products based on radium in the 20's of the past century. They had several peculiarities such as natural luminescence and a unique pale white colour that used to shine in the darkness. I needn't to say that this was obviously one of the most dangerous and damaging things you could apply to your body. tho-radia was a body lotion and a brand that took pride in using radium in many ways, including a product for teeth. Radioactive teeth, imagine that. I hope you don't come across one of those old bottles in an antique shop, as they are still dangerous.
- UV tattoo ink is one of the only inks that have been approved by the FDA (for animal use). They've been used for a long time in livestock. Not that that should make you comfortable with sticking it into your skin or anything, but it's probably not quite the same as powdering your face with radium.
  
  While we're on the subject of historically misguided applications of radioactive materials: ever heard of uranium glass? People get real weird around spicy rocks.
- The 20's of last century.. Still not getting used to that
- I think the idea of radium wallpapers are awesome, and if I could get a safe variant to use in the basement as a guide to the fuse box it would be an instant buy

I also hate that OP isn’t bioluminescent. Pathetic. Clearly not trying hard enough.

Fun fact... Folks can glow after chemotherapy.

That's cool! Is it permanent or will I have to cut the power to a chemotherapy hospital ward to see glowy humans?

Be the change you want to see in the world.

this reminded me of the clock girls story, "radium girls", I think.

but since bioluminescence is powered differently, it's a way better approach than artificial splashes of paint.

It's fairly easy to find radium dials up to these days. You can spot them based on the yellowish and crumbling look of the paint or once luminous compounds. They may not be glowing any longer but they retain their radioactivity. By contrast, tye greenish white paint on dials is usually tritium.