Digging into the mysteries of fireflies

This photo released by the Museum of Science shows a firefly or lightning bug. Fireflies are neither bugs nor flies; they are actually beetles, which have two pairs of wings. (Museum of Science/Don Salvatore/AP)

Maybe fireflies give primordial meaning to light my fire.

We’re almost at the time when the blinking lights of our common firefly, the big dipper (Photinus pyralis), will dot our evenings and bring the question of what those flashes mean.