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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
John Jacob Astor’s A Journey in Other Worlds
The exploration of old and relatively unknown science fiction can be rewarding on many levels. In addition to seeing the author’s vision of the future, one also gets a snapshot of the accepted science of the time, usually riddled with … Continue reading
Posted in Science fiction
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Weird science facts, July 13 — July 19
Back from Toronto, and working on some more posts. In the meantime, here are the past week’s Twitter #weirdscifacts! 487. July 13: Half he, half she. A rare chimeric butterfly has been born in London. (via @lucasbrowers) 488. July 14: … Continue reading
Posted in Weirdscifacts
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The Giant’s Shoulders #37 is out! (The Wunderkammer Edition)
The Giant’s Shoulders #37 is up at Providentia, and is a veritable cabinet of curiosities! Many thanks to Romeo Vitelli for putting together an excellent edition of the carnival! The next edition will appear on the Longitude Blog on August 16th. Entries are … Continue reading
Posted in General science, Science news
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Spiders and the electric light (1887)
(Digging through my archive of historical papers for short topics to blog about while I’m away on business.) In the modern era, we are very conscious of the impact of humanity on nature — even though we are often very … Continue reading
Posted in ... the Hell?, Animals, History of science
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Weird science facts, July 6 — July 12
Currently out of town at a meeting in Toronto, as the following picture should hopefully demonstrate: Nevertheless, the Twitter #weirdscifacts must go on! Here are the previous week’s posted facts: 480. July 06: In 1875, William Lowthian Green, eventual Hawaiian … Continue reading
Posted in Weirdscifacts
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A short travel note…
I was hoping to queue up a few blog posts for the next week, but didn’t manage to find the time to do so. I’m traveling to Toronto for a meeting for the next few days, so the blog will … Continue reading
Posted in Personal, Travel
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8 days until the deadline for The Giant’s Shoulders #37!
This is the regular monthly reminder that there’s only 8 days left until the deadline for the 37th edition of The Giant’s Shoulders, the history of science blog carnival! If you’ve got a history of science post you’ve been thinking about … Continue reading
Posted in General science, Science news
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Weird science facts, June 29 — July 05
Been a crazy week and a holiday week, but the Twitter #weirdscifacts just keep on coming! 473. June 29: In 1897, J.J. Thomson introduced the electron as a particle; in the 1920s, his son G.P. helped prove the electron is … Continue reading
Posted in Weirdscifacts
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Paris: City of Light and Cosmic Rays on Scientific American guest blog!
If you’ve been waiting for another in-depth blog post from me on physics and the history of science, wait no longer — just don’t look for it here! I’ve written a post for the Scientific American Guest Blog that went … Continue reading
Posted in History of science, Physics
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My day as a shark biologist!
(Alternate title: The old physicist and the sea) One of the wonderful things about being active in science communication is that you get to meet very interesting people who are involved in a variety of fascinating research activities. If you … Continue reading
Posted in Animals, General science
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Skulls in the Stars 