Author: Marchelle Calnan

Infinite patterns that never repeat have moved from fantasy to reality.

A Renaissance alchemist pioneers feedback control.

How a destructive idea paved the way for modern math.

An illustration of wave interferenceSybille Yates via Shutterstock Though we can see in remarkably low-light conditions, humans aren’t quite sensitive enough to see individual photons—the particles that make up all types of light. In our day-to-day lives, we are so awash with light that its particle nature is just as masked as the atomic nature […]

Cornelia Kopp via Flickr After five years of practicing meditation, subject number 99003 began to see the lights. “My eyes were closed,” he reported, “[and] there would be what appeared to be a moon-shaped object in my consciousness directly above me, about the same size as the moon if you lay down on the ground […]

How light therapy can treat disorders from depression to Alzheimer’s disease.

For Aboriginal cultures, light is a physical and spiritual guide.

Shining a light on the spark that separates man from beast.

Every 29 years, their light proves disastrous.

Illuminating the birth of the stars.