Rube Goldberg: The beautiful and timeless appeal of complex, useless contraptions
Beyond their entertainment values, these complex machines offer a unique insight into physics and human engineering.
Tag: light
Light and salt crystals could help usher in the next generation of data storage
This 3D optical data storage could allow up to petabyte level of data storage.
Researchers develop human-portable lasers to better study the health of glaciers
Anything involving lasers is undeniably cool.
LHC physicists make matter out of light
Energy from matter was always easy, but the reverse has been difficult to achieve -- until now.
Astronomers witness light produced by the merger of two black holes for first time
The flare was equivalent to the light from a trillion suns.
Complex glass objects 3D-printed using new take on old method
The printed objects are small, but very complex.
Sunflower-like material follows beam of light
It could be employed to raise the efficiency of solar harvesting devices.
NASA releases beautiful new animation of a black hole
It's a space-time-bender!
What light pollution is and what we can do about it
It's not like you could just flip a switch and... oh.
MIT develops programmable, color-changing dyes that you can spray on basically anything
If you've ever been envious of chameleons, rejoice! New research is bringing their color-changing properties to a dye near you. ...
New research finds the neurons that makes mice itchy
"The takeaway is that this mechanical itch sensation is distinct from other forms of touch and it has this specialized ...
The most energetic light recorded thus far hits Tibetan plateau
Gamma-ray particles trillions of times more energetic than regular light hit the Tibetan plateau.
Why is snow white?
...because it can't get a tan.
Physicists propose a new way to levitate and propel spacecraft-sized objects with light
The concept is audacious -- but it might be just crazy enough to work.
World’s fastest camera captures 10 trillion frames per second
The unprecedented scale of imaging can record even the slightest changes in the behavior of light.
SETI project uses AI to track down mysterious light source
Scientists are still in the dark but the new insights place them a step closer to the source of fast ...
Scientists have calculated the force of a photon hitting an object
It's a tiny value, but a huge discovery.
We may have just witnessed a close-by star devour the remnants of a planet
Gluttony? Tsk tsk tsk.
External temperature also influences our circadian rhythms, study reports
It's not just low light that makes us sleepy.
Light pollution from research ship makes Artic zooplankton return to the deep
A team of researchers modified a kayak, equipped it with sensors, a petrol engine, strapped it to a ship, and set ...
LED light savings backfire spectacularly as light pollution increases dramatically
Instead of consuming less, we're consuming more.
Designer Oscar Lhermitte brings the moon to your fingertips
You can't get any more lunar than this without leaving the planet.
Scientists just turned light-based information into readable soundwaves
It's like storing lightning in thunder.
What exactly is a photon? Definition, properties, facts
Let's shine some light on the matter.
Computer chip can mimic human neurons using only beams of light
Just MIT doing a bit of light thinking.
New, cheap artificial photosynthesis scrubs the air and produces fuel
Currently only works with blue light, but they're working on fixing that.
Dutch researchers demonstrate 42.8 gbps connection using Li-Fi. It’s 100 times faster than the best Wi-Fi
It uses infrared light instead of radio waves to transfer data.
Light-bending material could bridge quantum and classical physics
We're closer than ever to a Theory of Everything.
Scientists discover new ‘Frankenstein’ form of light, with important consequences for quantum computing
An intriguing electron-light interaction was discovered by scientists.
New silicon chip technology amplifies light using sound waves
A whole new world of signal processing may be just around the corner.
How to slow down light until it stops
In vacuum, light always travels at a constant speed of 299,792,458 metres per second. Nothing can travel faster than this ...
‘Cool’ light improves learning and academic performance. ‘Yellow light’ better for relaxing
A new research investigated various light intensity scenarios and reported their findings. For optimal learning performance, "cool" light is better ...
Mantis shrimps teach humans how to make a new type of optical material
Mantis shrimp are probably best known for the dazzling colors that adorn their shells. The second thing they're best known ...
Who says incandescent bulbs have to waste energy: MIT design is more efficient than LEDs
Though incandescent light bulbs have been used to light homes for more than a hundreds years, and still do so ...
What makes things coloured – the physics behind it
Have you ever wondered where do colours come from?
Scientists develop the blackest material ever
Just in time for Halloween, scientists have developed the blackest material - a material so dark that it absorbs almost ...
Something is blocking light from a distant star, and one of the possibilities is an alien structure
It's likely not aliens, but it could be - and it's really, really strange.
The world’s first image of light as both a particle and a wave
We see light every day, and yet, we don't truly understand it; it's either a particle or a wave, or ...
Speed of light slowed down by changing its shape
Nothing can travel faster than light in vacuum, per Einstein, but in the real world light travels at variable speed ...
NASA can see your Christmas lights… from outer space
Many are already preparing for Christmas - some shopping for presents, some Christmas lights... the usual. But as you're gearing up ...
Prism-like bar code pattern might help make computers that use light instead of wires
A breakthrough in optical communications has been reported by Stanford engineers who used a complex algorithm to design a prism-like device ...
Cooling of the future: just send the heat into space
Since ancient times, people living in hot climates learned if they paint their rooftops white, then their quarters would stay ...
Scientists coax Two Photons to interact in Ultra-thin Fiber Glass
Austrian researchers at the Vienna Univ. of Technology (TU Wien) made just two photons interact with each other, a major feat ...
Supernova study might change how speed of light in vacuum is measured
Einstein's theories suggest that light can not travel faster than c, a constant equal to the speed of light in ...
A new method for filtering light coming from a specific direction
Using only material geometry and interference patterns, MIT researchers have devised a novel way of passing light of any colour ...
Fiber optic tubes inserted through your veins could accelerate diagnosis
Illustration: James Archer/anatomyblue The backbone of today's modern telecommunication industry is held by fiber optic cables. These information highways have ...
Bending light in a chip could turn your phone into a projector
Imagine going to a meeting, flipping your phone on the table and then instantly project your slide presentation or traveling ...
Smart ‘curtains’ open and close just by responding to light only
Schematic for two different types of PC/SWNT photoactuators made by tuning the built-in strain of the bilayers. (c) Nature Communications ...
