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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 theoretical results in the study of extraordinary optical transmission
Right after “challenging” my fellow science bloggers to find and write about an old scientific paper, I take a hypocritical turn and write about some recent results in the theory of extraordinary optical transmission! In a paper that came out … Continue reading
Posted in Optics, Physics
10 Comments
Invisibility Physics: Acceleration without radiation, part I
A couple of years ago, a number of physicists made international news (some descriptions here and here) by proposing that “cloaking devices” were theoretically possible to construct. Two papers appeared consecutively in Science Magazine in May 2006, one by U. … Continue reading
Posted in Invisibility, Optics, Physics
17 Comments
Like a zombie, perpetual motion digs itself out of the grave, again
Wandering through StumbleUpon.com‘s science links often looks more like a drunken stagger through the realm of crackpot science. The previous one I found, using Coulomb’s law to get free energy, I passed along to Tyler to deal with as it … Continue reading
Posted in ... the Hell?, Physics
8 Comments
Fizeau’s experiment: The original paper
When I wrote my ‘speed of light’ post, I had to do a lot of searching to find Fizeau’s original paper. Fizeau, as I mentioned, produced the first terrestrial measurement of the speed of light, using a rapidly rotating toothed … Continue reading
Posted in Physics
17 Comments
Relativity: Measuring the speed of light
When I was an undergraduate, one of my professors told the following funny (and probably apocryphal) anecdote (recalled from memory): A court case was being tried in New Mexico. A group of pornographers were charged with smuggling pornography from Mexico … Continue reading
Posted in Optics, Physics, Relativity
20 Comments
Event horizons in water flow: the math!
In a previous post, I discussed recent research which demonstrated the creation of an artificial ‘event horizon’ in a fiber optic cable. In that post, I described how a river speeding up as it goes towards a waterfall has an … Continue reading
Posted in Mathematics, Physics
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Point Break: Mars!
My mind works in rather silly ways sometimes. Posting about skydiving soon after posting about avalanches on Mars, I got to thinking about how cool it would be to skydive off of a Martian cliff. Then I started to wonder: … Continue reading
Posted in Physics
6 Comments
Relativity: Newtonian relativity
In the first post on Einstein’s relativity, we discussed the discoveries and theories which served as the precursors to Einstein’s work. The most significant of these is Newton’s own version of relativity, now dubbed ‘Newtonian relativity’. Before we continue a … Continue reading
Posted in Physics, Relativity
6 Comments
The pre-history of Einstein’s relativity
I’m planning to do a long-term series of posts on Einstein’s relativity, starting with the special theory and progressing to the general theory (if you don’t know what the difference is, that’s okay, ’cause I’m gonna explain it all, eventually). … Continue reading
Posted in Physics, Relativity
10 Comments
Scientists make ‘blackest’ material ever!
This was an interesting bit of science news from last week: according to an article on optics.org (free registration required), a research team from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Rice University has fabricated the ‘blackest’ material ever known, which reflects just … Continue reading
Posted in Optics, Physics
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