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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
“The Giant’s Shoulders”: call for entries and hosts!
Note: bumped up to make sure everyone sees it! So we’ve got a weblog up for the new classic science carnival, “The Giant’s Shoulders“. The first event will be hosted by Coturnix at A Blog Around The Clock, and entries … Continue reading
Posted in General science
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Useless scientific factoid of the day: the ‘zombie palm’
In my previous post, my friend Personal Demon asked the following question, when I referred to the ancient palm as ‘Lazarus’: or it could be a MUMMY palm tree… or a ZOMBIE palm tree… Why WHY don’t scientists ever think … Continue reading
Posted in General science
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Ancient palm tree resurrected!
Via Science Magazine, we learn some fascinating news: a group of biologists and botanists have managed to grow a palm tree from a 2000-year old seed! In 1963, archaeologists excavating King Herod’s fortress near the Dead Sea uncovered a small … Continue reading
Posted in Science news
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Unconventional skydives: beach jumps!
Over Memorial Day weekend, i went with a group of friends to a skydiving party (‘boogie’) at the Emerald Coast Skydiving Center, which is near the Gulf Coast. The fun of this particular boogie is the ability to skydive over … Continue reading
Irony
Last week I got a traffic ticket, and opted to do the ‘defensive driving course’ to save myself the insurance and license penalties. The course was the usual thing: most accidents are rear-end collisions, caused by people distracted by, for … Continue reading
Posted in ... the Hell?
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Optics basics: Polarization
In a previous ‘basics’ post, I discussed the three major branches of optical science. My specialty, physical optics, involves the study of the wave properties of light. In particular, there are three major phenomena in physical optics: interference, diffraction, and … Continue reading
Posted in Optics, Optics basics
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Richard Marsh’s The Goddess: A Demon
I’ve been on a bit of a Richard Marsh kick lately (I already discussed his books The Beetle and The Joss), reading everything of his that’s available in print. He’s almost completely unknown today, even though he was a highly … Continue reading
Posted in Horror
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Mathematicians on Mortgages
In a nice little coincidence, recently two mathematics bloggers have decided to give a bit of a description of the subprime mortgage market crisis. Neither is an economist, but that’s probably okay, even preferable, considering it was the economists who … Continue reading
Posted in Mathematics
6 Comments
Lost divers shamelessly rip off ‘Lost’ and ‘Land of the Lost’!
Last Thursday, a group of divers went missing on what was supposed to be a routine tour dive in Indonesia. On Saturday, all five were rescued from the island of Rinca near Komodo Island, having spent two days surviving on … Continue reading
Posted in Animals, Science news
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“Aether Drag” and Moving Images: A different sort of “twin paradox”
Note: I’ve bumped this post in a probably futile attempt to get it aggregated by Research Blogging. It’s a little challenging to blog about contemporary optics research, as much of the work being done, though interesting, is of an extremely … Continue reading
Posted in Optics, Physics
15 Comments
Skulls in the Stars 