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 out to sea to measure zooplankton’s reaction to artificial light.
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.
Researchers found a supermassive black hole choking on its meal
Greedy!
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 constant c, as denoted by physicists. These two postulates are basic building blocks of modern physics and were first announced more than a hundred years ago by Albert Einstein. Yet, there are ingenious ways to slow light to the point of trapping it in a dead stop. Prepare for some weirdness.
‘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 while “yellow” or “warm” light is the most relaxing.
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 for is their tendency to violently murder anything they come into contact with.
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 in most of the world, these are ridiculously inefficient. This has prompted many governments to completely phase-them out, among which the E.U., Australia, Canada, Russian, as well as the United States. Their place has been taken over by fluorescent bulbs (CFLs), and the even more efficient LEDs. A team at MIT, however, has a bright idea that might revamp the unfavored bulbs. They’ve designed a new sort of incandescent bulb that uses a photonic crystal to recycle the waste energy. The resulting bulbs could be more power and light efficient than anything on the market right now.
What makes things coloured – the physics behind
It’s hard to image a world without colours simply because they’re all around us. Have you ever wondered, though, 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 all the light that hits its surface.
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.