light (Page 4)

In an incredible departure from Einstein’s theories, scientists have found ways to make light go both faster and slower, and now researchers have found a way to make it go BACKWARDS?and when it does, it goes FASTER than usual. This research could be a window into making time travel a reality.

Researcher Robert Boyd sent a pulse of light through an optical fiber, and before it even entered the fiber, it was exiting at the other end. Boyd was able to actually see that the pulse inside the fiber was moving backward.
read more

Scientists have figured out how to change light into aliquid that forms drops and splashes off surfaces just likewater. Humberto Michinel at the University of Vigo in Italysays it would be ideal for optical computing, wheremicrochips sent light through optical circuits in order toprocess data.
read more

In Hong Kong, astronomers who want to observe the stars and planets must travel to a remote village in the dead of night. Some have rented top-floor apartments in Hong Kong?s New Territories so they can gaze at the stars.

A huge amount of outdoor lighting makes the night can appear like day. ?The light, it lights up the sky so we cannot see a lot of the stars,? says Yeung Chi Hung, of the Hong Kong Astronomical Society.

To solve this problem, astronomers are trying to change the way buildings are lit. Often the light source is at the base of a building, with a beam that points upward. Experts say it should be the other way around.
read more

A team of scientists at the Rowland Institute in Massachusetts, led by Prof Lene Hau, have succeeded in making a pulse of laser light slow down to a complete halt. Then, after about a thousandth of a second, they made it start up again as if nothing had happened. This breakthrough will be important for designing the supercomputers of the future.

Other scientists, at Stanford University and the University of Colorado, have worked on similar techniques, and a group at Texas A & M University hopes to not only stop light, but reverse its direction.
read more