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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. -
Yearly Archives: 2011
New post: Weird science facts, August 31 — September 06
Here are this week’s Twitter #weirdscifacts! Due to a death in the family, I was traveling and had a difficult time finding facts on some days, but thankfully others stepped in to help me out, and we have two for … Continue reading
Posted in Weirdscifacts
7 Comments
Ancient swords, modern nanotechnology
Though science and technology in the modern era have accomplished things that our ancestors couldn’t even dream of, it is still worth remembering that the ancients weren’t dummies. Through a combination of ingenuity, observation, determination, and probably a lot of … Continue reading
Posted in General science, Physics
14 Comments
Weird science facts, August 24 — August 30
Here are the Twitter #weirdscifacts for the past week! 529. Aug 24: Avg density of the planet Saturn is so low, it would float in a (sufficiently large) bucket of water. Of course, there are some major caveats to this — … Continue reading
Posted in Weirdscifacts
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Mock the Movie: Mega Python vs. Gatoroid!
I’ve been quite busy at work today, but it would be remiss of me not to mention another Twitter Mock the Movie event planned for tonight, in which we will Twitter mock SyFy’s very own Mega Python vs. Gatoroid! The … Continue reading
Posted in ... the Hell?, Silliness
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August 27, 1883: The island of Krakatoa blows up
Today, August 27th, marks the grim anniversary of one of the most devastating volcanic eruptions in recorded history: the final explosion of the island of Krakatoa in 1883. The eruption — and the tsunami that was generated by it — … Continue reading
Posted in General science
4 Comments
Review of my book in Optics & Photonics News!
This is just a short post to note that my book was reviewed, positively, in the OSA optics magazine Optics & Photonics News! I’ve excitedly posted this information on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+, but I figure there are folks that … Continue reading
Posted in Personal
2 Comments
Weird science facts, August 17 — August 23
The past week’s Twitter #weirdscifacts, right on schedule! 522. Aug 17: Ancient Damascus swords shown to contain very state-of-the-art carbon nanotubes! I’m planning to blog about this next week — though carbon nanotubes are relatively new to science, they were … Continue reading
Posted in Weirdscifacts
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Stephen McKenna’s The Oldest God
Imagine that you were at an isolated weekend party, and people started to act aberrant, even evil. You begin to suspect that one of the guests of the party is in fact a monster, corrupting the others. What do you … Continue reading
Posted in Horror, Lovecraft
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Movie sequels that completely miss the point
The recent release of the prequel “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” got me thinking about the very odd sequels to the original 1968 “Planet of the Apes” and about sequels in general. Sequels are common in both literature … Continue reading
Posted in ... the Hell?, Entertainment
6 Comments
Weird science facts, August 10 — August 16
Yet another week of Twitter #weirdscifacts! Have a healthy amount of weird creatures at the end of this week’s list. 515. Aug 10: Werewolves do exist! Sort of. The very odd medical condition hypertrichosis. 516. Aug 11: A successful treatment … Continue reading
Posted in Weirdscifacts
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Skulls in the Stars 