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The author of Skulls in the Stars is a professor of physics, specializing in optical science, at UNC Charlotte. The blog covers topics in physics and optics, the history of science, classic pulp fantasy and horror fiction, and the surprising intersections between these areas. -
Monthly Archives: April 2008
Richard Laymon and a bit of a horror fiction pet peeve
As I believe I’ve mentioned before, part of my motivation for writing this blog was to give myself a reason to reinvestigate one of my “lost loves”: horror fiction. I’ve been reading massive amounts of horror since then, from some … Continue reading
Posted in Horror
26 Comments
A couple of cool, albeit impractical, clocks
I’m between “blog thoughts” today, but I thought I’d point out a couple of cool clocks that I “stumbled upon” in recent weeks. Though I don’t think either of them will help Tom with his research, they’re both pretty cool. … Continue reading
Posted in General science
8 Comments
Tim Lebbon: “Berserk” and “The Everlasting”
I haven’t been doing much horror blogging recently, though I have been busy with horror reading. A couple of books by Tim Lebbon recently caught my eye, and I thought I’d offer a few thoughts about them. First, a rhetorical … Continue reading
New theoretical results in the study of extraordinary optical transmission
Right after “challenging” my fellow science bloggers to find and write about an old scientific paper, I take a hypocritical turn and write about some recent results in the theory of extraordinary optical transmission! In a paper that came out … Continue reading
Posted in Optics, Physics
10 Comments
A fun challenge for science bloggers
Note: For those looking for it, I’ve put up an official page with links to all entries here. One of the things that I still find incredibly fun about being a scientist is the ability to “touch” history, in the … Continue reading
Posted in General science
67 Comments
The Animated Skeleton, by Anonymous
I have a tendency, when I start to study a subject, of pushing continuously further back in the subject’s history. This is certainly true of my horror readings, in which I’ve now regressed into studying early Gothic fiction. I’ve mentioned … Continue reading
Posted in Horror
3 Comments
Ach! Zombies!
For the first April in a while, I’m really sorry I’m not back in Chicago (usually the weather’s still too crappy to contemplate). On the 26th, there will be a zombie pub crawl in the city! The best part is … Continue reading
O’Reilly goon gets his rhetorical ass handed to him
Via yet another tangled web of links (via Crooks&Liars, via BradBlog, via RatTube), we find this rather remarkable Fox “News” video. In late March 2008, the Reverend Michael Pfleger invited Jeremiah Wright, conservative demon of the month, to deliver a … Continue reading
Posted in Politics, Religion
3 Comments
Skydiving again, finally!
I finally managed to make a couple of skydives this weekend, after about a six-week hiatus. My undesired “break” from the sport was a combination of bad weather on the weekends at home and travel on the others. In celebration … Continue reading
Invisibility Physics: Acceleration without radiation, part I
A couple of years ago, a number of physicists made international news (some descriptions here and here) by proposing that “cloaking devices” were theoretically possible to construct. Two papers appeared consecutively in Science Magazine in May 2006, one by U. … Continue reading
Posted in Invisibility, Optics, Physics
17 Comments
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