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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: Physics
New ‘cloaking’ results? Not really, but interesting anyway
About a week ago, I reported on another ‘teaser’ in the media about ‘optical cloaks’, hypothetical devices which would in principle make objects contained in their core completely invisible. Such devices have gotten a lot of attention, both scientifically and … Continue reading
Posted in Invisibility, Optics, Physics
8 Comments
The cloaking craze: A look at the original papers
As I noted a couple of days ago, apparently there has been another significant experimental breakthrough in the development of dielectric cloaking devices. Researchers at UC Berkeley were responsible, though it is a little unclear what exactly the breakthrough is. … Continue reading
Posted in Invisibility, Optics, Physics
15 Comments
Another ‘invisibility cloak’ teaser!
Via several sources (Times Online, via HuffPost and AP, via Pharyngula), I see that there’s another pending high-profile release concerning ‘invisibility cloaks’. Though the physics behind them is accurate, the media is of course pushing rather hyperbolic headlines again: “Science … Continue reading
Posted in Invisibility, Science news
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The discovery, rediscovery, and re-rediscovery of computed tomography
Note: This post is my contribution to The Giant’s Shoulders #2, to be held at The Lay Scientist. I thought I’d cover something a little more recent than my previous entries to the classic paper carnival; in truth, I need … Continue reading
Posted in History of science, Physics
13 Comments
Freezing images in an atomic vapor!
I thought I’d step out of my comfort zone and specific field of expertise for once and do a post on some interesting quantum optics. In a June issue of Physical Review Letters, an Israeli research group experimentally demonstrated the … Continue reading
Posted in Optics, Physics
5 Comments
Einstein vs. Whittaker, with Born in the middle
My former thesis advisor is the greatest! I recently helped him update an electronic compilation of his collected papers, but refused any payment for my services. He ignored me and sent me a copy of The Born-Einstein Letters, a compilation … Continue reading
Posted in History of science, Physics, Relativity
9 Comments
What a drag: Arago’s Experiment (1810)
Note: This post is my contribution to the first-ever edition of The Giant’s Shoulders, a new blog event compiling posts concerning classic science papers. I’ve been meaning to get back to my series of posts on relativity, but things have … Continue reading
Posted in History of science, Optics, Physics, Relativity
20 Comments
Unconventional skydives: balloon jump!
A couple of weeks ago I attended Skyfest 2008, a large skydiving convention (‘boogie’) which had attendees from all over the country. They also had a number of unconventional aircraft, namely helicopters and hot air balloons. I decided to make … Continue reading
Posted in Physics, Sports
4 Comments
Invisibility Physics: Schott’s radiationless orbits
Conventional wisdom, even to this day, dictates that accelerating charges necessarily give off electromagnetic radiation. This is seen, for instance, in large-scale particle accelerators (synchrotrons), such as the Tevatron at Fermilab and the soon-to-be-operational LHC at CERN: the charged particles … Continue reading
Posted in Invisibility, Optics, Physics
4 Comments
“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
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