Still-life artists know that to make an image of an object look like the real thing, they must account for the way light reflects off it. The appearance of these glimmers—their color, position and ...

Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story: Researchers have found a way to mimic lightspeed when photographing an object. The method involves stitching together many thin “slices” of light ...

An image printed on reflectance paper responds to the direction from which it is illuminated. The reflectance paper is covered with dimples that reflect light from different directions. See video ...

Holograms. Practically every sci-fi movie and TV show from the last 50 years has some version of this futuristic technology. A realistic 3D object composed of nothing more than light, usually hovering ...

Ever wonder how a mirror works? If you want to find the path that light takes when reflecting off a surface, you could use Fermat's Principle. This states something like this: The path that light ...

Researchers from Nordita (The Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics) at Stockholm University in Sweden, together with colleagues from Vanderbilt University in the United States, have published two ...

NASA has recently detected a peculiar light emanating from the asteroid belt, sparking intrigue and speculation within the scientific community. This unexpected discovery has led to various hypotheses ...

For several centuries now, scientists have known that light behaves like a wave, expanding out from its source until absorbed or reflected by objects, which are in turn illuminated. In recent years, ...

Mirrors are a great way to amplify natural light in a room. By placing mirrors opposite windows or near light sources, they ...

ChromoUpdate is a 'programmable matter' technique to quickly change objects' color. The method uses light to alter the saturation of photochromatic ink on an item's surface and could give product ...