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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. -
Author Archives: skullsinthestars
Mini-interview in Seed Magazine!
Well, I’m on the road again. Three days after getting back from a marathon holiday trip, I hopped back on a plane and headed to Texas for a grant-related workshop. At least the plane out was pretty empty — I … Continue reading
Posted in General science, Personal
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10 days until The Giant’s Shoulders #19!
There’s 10 days left until the deadline for The Giant’s Shoulders #19! It will be held at The Renaissance Mathematicus, and entries can be submitted through blogcarnival.com or directly to the host blog, as usual!
Posted in General science, Science news
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ResearchBlogging editor’s selections: exporting language, speaking with your mind, reversing streams, and money vs. happiness
More on Korean linguistic exports. Ingrid Piller at Language on the Move discusses an interesting project undertaken by a Korean organization: the “saving” of small languages by giving them a written form using the Korean Hangul characters. But does the … Continue reading
Posted in General science, Science news
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Lord Kelvin vs. the Aether! (1901)
The more I study the history of aether physics, the more I feel that modern physicists underappreciate both the huge influence the theory had on the development of physics and how it indirectly spurred many positive scientific discoveries, even though … Continue reading
Posted in History of science, Physics
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Kepler’s contributions to optics, at Renaissance Mathematicus
Those who follow this site for optics and history of science posts should take at look at this nice post by The Renaissance Mathematicus. It covers the contributions of Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) to the modern theory of optics. Kepler is … Continue reading
Posted in History of science, Optics
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ResearchBlogging editor’s selections: technology vs. prejudice, the history of grain-eating, and curing PTSD via virtual reality
Can modern day gadgets help combat prejudice? We have come so far as a society in combating prejudice, but there is clearly much more to be done. William Lu at The Quantum Lobe Chronicles discusses attempts to use technology to … Continue reading
Posted in General science, Science news
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A new paper airplane world record!
Via The Huffington Post, I found this story pretty exciting: a Japanese man has made a new world record for the longest duration flight of a paper airplane! Only one man – Japanese paper airplane virtuoso Takuo Toda – has … Continue reading
Posted in Science news, Sports
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Merry Christmas
We arrived in Chicago on the 23rd, just ahead of a nice ice storm. Things were a bit of a mess afterwards, but very pretty: Merry Christmas to those celebrating, and happy holidays to everyone else! As my usual Yuletide … Continue reading
Posted in Personal, Silliness
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M.P. Shiel’s Prince Zaleski
Valancourt Books continues to release fascinating literary treasures that have been buried and forgotten for ages! The most recent of these is a collection of stories by M.P. Shiel about his character Prince Zaleski: We’ve encountered Matthew Phipps Shiel (1865-1947) … Continue reading
Posted in Mystery/thriller
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Another kitty anchors herself in our home!
Book writing is coming along, and I actually can see light at the end of the tunnel. The biggest section left to write is on tensor analysis, and the biggest difficulty is determining how much to include in my book … Continue reading
Posted in Animals, Personal
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Skulls in the Stars 