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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: March 2009
Why no press on Y(4140)?
Earlier this month, I came across a healthy number of articles on the observation at Fermilab of a single top quark, produced by interactions involving the weak nuclear force. As a scientist who dabbled in particle physics in graduate school, … Continue reading
Posted in Physics
10 Comments
Surprising fact about… Louisa May Alcott!
One of the fun things about studying pulp horror stories is learning unexpected trivia about the authors. Just as often, though, the trivia learned is that a famous author ever indulged in such “sensationalist” writings! As a case in point, … Continue reading
Posted in Horror
5 Comments
Optics basics: Young’s double slit experiment
As I’ve so far been restricting my ‘optics basics’ posts to discussions of fundamental concepts related to optics, it might seem strange at first glance to dedicate a post to a single optical experiment. What will hopefully become clear, however, … Continue reading
Posted in Optics, Optics basics
48 Comments
OpenLab 2009 submissions open…
I keep forgetting to note this, but submissions for The Open Laboratory 2009 are now being accepted and can be nominated at this link: The Open Laboratory is a printed collection of the ‘best’ science blog writing of the year, … Continue reading
Posted in Entertainment, General science
9 Comments
A miscellany of science-related stories
I’ve been stocking up on a collection of fascinating science stories which I couldn’t think of enough to comment on in a blog post. I’ve finally hit critical mass, though, and thought I’d dump them all at once: Four Spanish … Continue reading
Posted in Science news
5 Comments
A. Merritt’s The Face in the Abyss
I’ve been continuing my reading of the works of A. Merritt (1884-1943), which began with his first serial novel The Moon Pool (1919), continued to his masterful The Metal Monster (1920) and most recently visited The Dwellers in the Mirage … Continue reading
Posted in Adventure fiction
3 Comments
Terminator and Dollhouse surprised me tonight…
I just finished watching Terminator and Dollhouse and just felt compelled to write a short comment. Both shows were really good tonight, in their own way. Terminator resolved a number of huge plot threads and the same time it opened … Continue reading
Posted in Entertainment
4 Comments
Infinite series are weird!
I’m in the mood to do something a little more ‘math-y’! A few weeks ago, Tyler at PowerUp did a nice post about the divergence of the harmonic series, and that got me thinking about the weirdness of infinite series. … Continue reading
Posted in Mathematics
18 Comments
M.P. Shiel’s The House of Sounds and Others
H.P. Lovecraft was not only a writer of weird fiction, but a voracious reader of the genre, as evidenced by his classic essay, Supernatural Horror in Literature. He collected a voluminous library of weird titles, many of which have not … Continue reading
Posted in Horror, Lovecraft
5 Comments
The Giant’s Shoulders #9 is up!
The ninth edition of The Giant’s Shoulders is up at The Evilutionary Biologist! Many thanks to John for assembling it. The next edition will appear on April 16th at Stochastic Scribbles.
Posted in General science, Science news
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