Tag Archives: light

Explainer: Our bodies’ internal clocks

By Amanda Leigh Mascarelli / June 14, 2013

This illustration shows how light that enters the eyes can send a signal to make sure the body’s master clock is reset daily. This ensures the internal pacemaker is always working in sync with the local time. Credit: Nat.l Inst. of Gen’l Medical Sciences

Biological clocks determine hunger, sleepiness and other daily rhythms

Posted in Body & Health, Brain & Behavior | Tagged biological clock, body clock, circadian, cycles, explainer, hormones, jet lag, light, metabolism, pacemaker, retina, rhythms, Sarah Forbes-Robertson, suprachiasmatic nucleus, Swansea University

Light dancing on glass

By Stephen Ornes / May 15, 2013

This image, taken with a powerful microscope, shows tiny, individual crystals of bismuth telluride. A new structure made from this material lets light travel easily and without interruption along its surface. Credit: A13ean/Wikipedia

New type of material lets light travel across its surface without interruption

Posted in Light & Radiation, Physics, Technology & Engineering | Tagged conductor, Cornell University, crystal, electrons, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany, getinvolved, Haifa, insulator, Ithaca, Jacob Taylor, Joint Quantum Institute, light, materials science, Michal Lipson, Mordechai Segev, New York, photons, physics, superconductor, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, topological insulator, topology, University of Maryland

Out-of-this-world atmospheres

By Stephen Ornes / March 29, 2013

This illustration depicts the planet HR 8799c (foreground) orbiting its star. Two other planets in the system can also be seen in the drawing.
Credit: Image courtesy of Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics; Mediafarm

Light from a distant, giant world offers clues to the gases in its atmosphere

Posted in Space | Tagged astronomy, atmosphere, Ben Oppenheimer, Earth, exoplanets, getinvolved, HR 8799, infrared, Jonathan Fortney, light, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Neptune, planets, Quinn Konopacky, radiation, Santa Cruz, Saturn, Smithsonian Institution, space, spectral lines, spectrometry, topstories, University of California, University of Toronto

Quake, quake, go away

By Stephen Ornes / March 1, 2013

An earthquake caused widespread damage to San Francisco in 1989. Scientists are designing a new type of seismic shield that may help protect buildings from tremors. Credit: J.K. Nakata/USGS

French engineers report success in the first test of an underground seismic shield

Posted in Technology & Engineering | Tagged cloaking, Duke University, earthquake, electromagnetic radiation, engineering, getinvolved, Grenoble, Imperial College London, Institut Fresnel, Invisibility, John Pendry, light, light waves, Marseille, metamaterials, microwaves, Sébastien Guenneau, seismic waves, shields, topstories

Twinkle, twinkle oldest stars

By Stephen Ornes / November 21, 2012

Blazars are bright galaxies that send high-powered radiation jets directly toward Earth. They can be used to detect the light in the universe left over from every star that ever shone. In this image, the blazars are shown as green dots; the Milky Way glows orange in the middle. Credit: NASA, DOE, Fermi LAT Collaboration

Astronomers find traces of ancient light in the activity of bright, distant galaxies

Posted in Space | Tagged astronomy, astrophysics, Big Bang, blazar, cosmic fog, cosmology, Fermi telescope, galaxy, gamma rays, getinvolved, Kavli Institute, light, optics, photon, photons, radiation, star, telescope, topstories, University of Texas at Austin, Volker Bromm

Crime-solving camera

By Stephen Ornes / August 31, 2012

A digital camera fitted with the right filters, like the one shown here, can detect only infrared light. The crime-fighting trick can reveal bloodstains hidden behind layers of paint. Credit: bmcent1/iStockphoto

Quick-change trick allows a digital camera to photograph blood concealed by paint

Posted in Light & Radiation | Tagged blood, blood detection, camera, crime, detectives, filter, filters, forensic science, forensics, getinvolved, Glenn Porter, infrared, lens, Lenses, lenses/mirrors/filters, light, paint, photography, physics, radiation, University of Western Sydney, wavelength

Fish eyes go green

By Stephen Ornes / January 25, 2012

Scientists find a surprise in the lens of a fish that lives in the dark

Posted in Animals | Tagged absorption, color, feature, fluorescence, Lenses, lenses/mirrors/filters, light, physics, reflection

A very good blast from the past

By Amanda Leigh Mascarelli / October 27, 2010

And into the future: New, cool stuff that lasers can do

Posted in Physics | Tagged energy, laser, light, radiation, waves, waves/radiation

The science of disappearing

By Stephen Ornes / February 17, 2010

Invisibility cloaks and other new materials that play with light are in the works

Posted in Technology & Engineering | Tagged electron configuration and light, electrons, Invisibility, Lenses, light, radiation, waves/radiation

Fish needs see-through head

By Stephen Ornes / March 17, 2009

Barreleye peers out at the world like a fighter pilot does through a windshield

Posted in Animals | Tagged Lenses, lenses/mirrors/filters, light, physics, vision, waves

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