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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. -
Category Archives: Animals
A Tiny update!
Posting will be light (-er than usual) this week on account of the Thanksgiving holiday! Before I went silent, however, I wanted to announce a bit of good news: the cat Tiny that my wife and I have been fostering … Continue reading
Foster kitty Tiny!
I’ve been rather overwhelmed with work, travel, and sick cats lately, so I haven’t had the time or energy to write significant science blog posts — this will change soon! In the meantime, I thought I’d ask people to spread … Continue reading
Posted in Animals, Personal
2 Comments
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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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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Foster kitten update!
I thought I would do an update on the status of the momma cat and her five kittens that we’ve been fostering! We’re now at the seventh week of age, and the kittens are really tiny versions of cats at … Continue reading
Posted in Animals, Personal
7 Comments
Foster kittens in the house!
While I’m working on my next physics/optics blog post (I keep taking on challenging topics that require lots of research), I thought I’d share some pictures of our newest houseguests: momma kitty Snuggles and her five newborn baby kittens! Here … Continue reading
Posted in Animals, Personal
8 Comments
Cats, cats, cats!
I’m struggling to get a new optics post going for the blog; I’ve got a number of possibilities I’m exploring, but it will likely take a few days to get it going. In the meantime, I realized I haven’t done … Continue reading
Posted in Animals, Personal
17 Comments
Martin Cruz Smith’s Nightwing
It can take an author many years of writing to establish their own unique voice and style. Their early works are often a fascinating “what if” scenario, giving a glimpse of directions a well-known novelist may have alternatively taken. The … Continue reading
Posted in Animals, Horror
3 Comments
The Nature of Human Nature, by Carin Bondar
In recent months, I’ve been trying to make a more concerted effort to read and review the flurry of science books being published by the excellent bloggers and twitterers out there. A couple of months ago, I picked up Written in … Continue reading
Posted in Animals, General science
5 Comments
Kitty fostering breakthrough!
As I’ve noted in a previous blog post, my wife and I have been fostering a brother/sister pair of cats, named Mandarin and Mango, for the past several weeks. Some more recent pictures, first of Mandarin at play: and of … Continue reading
Posted in Animals, Personal
2 Comments
Skulls in the Stars 