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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: General science
Kitchen Science Lab for Kids, by Liz Heinecke
Though I spent a lot of time thinking about how to properly explain science in a way that is comprehensible to non-scientists, my biggest Achilles heel is my lack of experience in explaining things at a level that kids can … Continue reading
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How anti-vaccination is like a nuclear bomb
Update: tweaked the descriptions of nuclear physics to be a little more specific. I’m not sure that anything fills me with despair more than the trend of parents refusing to vaccinate their children. A couple of weeks ago, an article … Continue reading
Posted in ... the Hell?, General science, Health
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Dr. SkySkull’s Monday Cavalcade of Interesting Science Stuff – September 15, 2014
While I’m working on more detailed blog posts, here’s a collection of interesting science-related stuff I came across over the past week! Buddhist singing bowls inspire new tandem solar cell design. A surprising amount of optics design is inspired by … Continue reading
Posted in General science, Science news
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Dr. SkySkull’s Monday Cavalcade of Interesting Science Stuff – September 8, 2014
In order to make my blogging a little more regular, I thought I would start doing a weekly roundup of interesting science-based posts from around the internet! Also, there’s so much good stuff out there that should be shared. With … Continue reading
Posted in General science, Science news
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The Giant’s Shoulders #72: The Seven Wonders
The 2nd century BCE marked an unusual milestone in the history of civilization. As the Greeks had conquered most of the civilized world, its citizens were more or less free to travel widely through Europe and the Middle East, to see … Continue reading
Posted in General science, History of science
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Help me help you!
Things have been rather busy and stressful at work over the past few weeks, in spite of the summer break starting, and I’ve consequently been neglecting the blog. I will be catching up again in the near future, but in … Continue reading
Posted in General science, Personal
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The Giant’s Shoulders #60, part 1, is out!
The first part of the sixtieth edition of the history of science blog carnival The Giant’s Shoulders is up at The Renaissance Mathematicus! It is a look back at all 59 earlier carnivals (those that still exist!). Check it out! … Continue reading
Posted in General science, Science news
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The Giant’s Shoulders #59 is out!
I hereby declare that the 59th edition of The Giant’s Shoulders, the history of science blog carnival, is up at Something by Virtue of Nothing! This edition, centered around the theme of the Antikythera Mechanism, includes posts about: Did Isaac Newton … Continue reading
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The Giant’s Shoulders #58 is out!
I was a little slow in posting about it, but the 58th edition of the history of science blog carnival, The Giant’s Shoulders, is up at Asylum Science! In this edition, you can read about: cosmonauts who had to survive … Continue reading
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April 10, 1815: Mount Tambora blows up
Today is the 198th anniversary of the largest volcanic event in recorded history, the deadly and devastating eruption of Mount Tambora on the island of Sumbawa in Indonesia. The eruption was four times as powerful as that of its later … Continue reading
Posted in General science, History of science
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