Human-made light sources can alter natural light cycles, causing animals that rely on light cues to make mistakes when moving through their environment.

In a new study, physicists at the University of Toronto have invented a simple structure called a meta-screen, designed to focus light into tiny spots smaller than the wavelength of the photons in use. These sub-wavelength spots overcome the diffraction limit, thus allowing even the smallest details of an object to be visualized.

A team of scientists from Boston College and Duke University has developed a highly-engineered metamaterial capable of absorbing all of the light that strikes it – to a scientific standard of perfection – they report in the latest edition of Physical Review Letters.

Scientists have spent 70 years trying to predict the properties of nuclei, but have had to settle for approximate models because computational techniques were not equal to the task.

Quantum dots—tiny, intense, tunable sources of colorful light—are illuminating new opportunities in biomedical research, cryptography and other fields. But these semiconductor nanocrystals also have a secret problem, a kind of nervous tic. They mysteriously tend to “blink” on and off like Christmas tree lights, which can reduce their usefulness.

Marvel at the beauty of contained lightning in a scientific sculpture!

In addition to allowing us to see, the mammalian eye also detects light for a number of “non-visual” phenomena. A prime example of this is the timing of the sleep/wake cycle, which is synchronized by the effects of light on the circadian pacemaker in the hypothalamus.

Toshiba will start to light up the city today, when it switches on a new LED signboard to send its message shining out over Times Square. The new display brings Toshiba's message to the heart of New York's business and entertainment district, and is part of enhanced global marketing activities to promote recognition of the Toshiba brand.

It’s a rare case of all light and no heat: A new study reports that a laser can be used to switch a film of vanadium dioxide back and forth between reflective and transparent states without heating or cooling it.

Around the world, students learn about the wave nature of light through the interference patterns of “Young’s double-slit experiment,” first performed more than 200 years ago and still considered among the most beautiful physics experiments.

Most plants and animals show changes in activity over a 24-hour cycle. Now, for the first time, researchers have shown how a plant combines signals from its internal clock with those from the environment to show a daily rhythm of growth.