>> So there are effecient processes for turning external energy into 
>> electricity, and turning electricity into energy such as muscle 
>> contraction.
> 
> Muscle contractions are powered by chemical reactions.

True - although muscle contraction is a cascade of chemical reactions 
triggered by electricity. Perhaps a better example would be the human 
brain, which kicks out enough power to be measurable from outside the 
human body. (Or those electric eels...)

>> I'm guessing bioluminescense is usually driven either by the stored 
>> energy of the reactants themselves [which probably requires some huge 
>> long enzyme chain to resynthesize], or by a carrier molecule like AMP 
>> [which can't be directly synthesized from electricity in any obvious 
>> way].
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luciferase#Chemical_reaction

Right. So oxidation of a molecule causes it to glow, and an engyme 
catalyses this reaction. Presumably if you wanted to perpetuate this 
reaction indefinitely you'd need a way to un-oxidise the product...

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
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