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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 oldest cat selfie? (1904)
I’ve said before that old illustrated magazines are a treasure trove of fascinating stuff. From the same 1904 issue of The Strand where I found the vintage math puzzle in my previous post, I found this amazing reader-submitted photograph: In … Continue reading
Posted in ... the Hell?, Animals, History of science
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A vintage math puzzle!
Over a decade ago, at the beginning of this blog, I wrote a blog post about some classic math puzzles where a nonsensical result is arrived at by seemingly plausible mathematics; in the post, I challenged folks to figure out … Continue reading
Posted in Mathematics
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A short hiatus
In the wake of my 14 year blog anniversary, I’ve also been hit with one of the biggest episodes of depression I’ve ever experienced. Going to take a bit of time to see if I can hopefully get myself back … Continue reading
Posted in Personal
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A short blogiversary note!
Hi folks! I have been rather busy with work and book writing so I haven’t been posting much, but I haven’t given up and will hopefully be back with more interesting stuff soon! (Especially once I get my book draft … Continue reading
Posted in Personal
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Sinister Barrier, by Eric Frank Russell
Writing a book about the history and science of invisibility has led me to read things that I would otherwise never have encountered, including a whole slew of science fiction tales about invisibility and invisible creatures. I thought I would … Continue reading
Posted in Invisibility, Science fiction
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H.G. Wells insults the entire human race (1924)
Most everyone knows the name H.G. Wells: he is one of the founders of science fiction as a popular and accepted form of literature, thanks to his brilliant novels The Time Machine (1895), The War of the Worlds (1898), and … Continue reading
Posted in History of science, Science fiction
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The Valancourt Book of World Horror Stories, Volume 1
Having a quiet night at home and realized this would be a good time to catch up on some book blogging! I finally started getting back into reading, after a long pandemic-depression hiatus, at the start of the new year, … Continue reading
Me on This Week in Science!
I’m having a lot of fun doing video chats on science shows lately! A few days ago, I happened to see that This Week in Science talked about some optics that I am familiar with, and I jokingly complained to … Continue reading
Posted in General science, Optics
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Skulls in the Stars 