Articles about 'light'

Research explains how a unicellular marine organism generates light as a response to mechanical stimulation, lighting up breaking waves at night.

New study finds “messy” microscopic structures on petals of some flowers manipulate light to produce a blue colour effect that is easily seen by bee pollinators. Researchers say these petal grooves evolved independently multiple times across flowering plants, but produce the same result: a floral halo of blue-to-ultraviolet light.

Using the strange properties of tiny particles of gold, researchers have concentrated light down smaller than a single atom, letting them look at individual chemical bonds inside molecules, and opening up new ways to study light and matter.

A team of scientists have measured a bizarre effect in quantum physics, in which individual particles of light are said to have been “squeezed” – an achievement which at least one textbook had written off as hopeless.

The development of a ‘nanobarrel’ that traps and concentrates light onto single molecules could be used as a low-cost and reliable diagnostic test.

A breakthrough in the use of carbon nanotubes as optical projectors has enabled scientists to generate holograms using the smallest ever pixels.

A long-sought “echo” of light that promises to reveal more about supersized black holes in distant galaxies has been identified by an international team of astronomers.

Some plants go to extraordinary lengths to attract pollinators. A unique collaboration between plant scientists and physicists is revealing the full extent of botanical advertising.

Beetles use it, birds use it. Plants use it too. Iridescence is the shimmery colour effect that makes things eye-catching.

Funded by a £20 million donation from David Harding, the Winton Programme for the Physics of Sustainability aims to address some of the major challenges affecting the modern world.