Auroras, shimmering bands of light that shoot through the night sky near the Earth’s poles, can follow patterns known as arcs ...

I learned in October 2022’s Breakthrough that the spikes of stars in high-power photos are called diffraction spikes. Why do they appear as two crosses at 45 degrees to each other? The diffraction ...

When two or more light waves interact with one another, they result in the formation of different interference patterns. British physicist Thomas Young first demonstrated and explained these patterns ...

Even diffuse objects like clouds or sugar cubes cast shadows, because they’re disordered media that scatter light waves. But now, researchers at TU Wien and Utrecht University have found a way to ...

A new optical device allows researchers to generate and switch between two stable, donut-shaped light patterns called ...

A new metasurface lets scientists flip between ultra-stable light vortices, paving the way for tougher, smarter wireless communication.

A research team from Munich has identified a previously unknown communication mechanism in harvestmen. Five closely related ...