Astrophysicists wear 3-D glasses to watch quasars

A team of researchers from Russia and Greece reports a way to determine the origins and nature of quasar light by its polarization. The new approach is analogous to the way cinema glasses produce a 3-D image by feeding each ...

Capturing an octopus-eye view of the Great Barrier Reef

A specialized camera that allows scientists to see as reef-dwelling animals do has been built by a team of researchers at the University of Bristol. The team will travel to Lizard Island off the coast of Queensland this year ...

Closest supernova in a decade reveals how exploding stars evolve

Alex Filippenko is the kind of guy who brings a telescope to a party. True to form, at a soiree on May 18 this year, he wowed his hosts with images of star clusters and colorful galaxies—including the dramatic spiral Pinwheel ...

A microlaser emitting helical light

Researchers recently demonstrated the realization of an integrated microlaser based on a novel design that emits light in chiral modes, thus producing corkscrews of light. An object is said to be chiral if it can be distinguished ...

Light polarization creates art, explains mathematical concepts

The polarization of light underpins a variety of recent technological innovations, including 3D cinema and LCDs. In LCDs, tiny electronically controllable liquid crystal elements are sandwiched between polarizers. If, instead, ...

Researchers develop light transistor

TU Vienna has managed to turn the oscillation direction of beams of light – simply by applying an electrical current to a special material. This way, a transistor can be built that functions with light instead of electrical ...

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