When it comes to light, certain types of fabricated materials behave in a radically different manner from ordinary materials like water and glass: they have negative refractive indices, so that light ...

This film demonstrates the measurement of the speed of light in both air and water using experimental setups. The first experiment involves measuring the time it takes for light to travel a known ...

I test a series of light experiments to explore reflection, refraction, and optical illusions, demonstrating how light behaves in surprising and educational ways. This is what scientists discovered in ...

If you enjoyed this article, I’d like to ask for your support. Scientific American has served as an advocate for science and industry for 180 years, and right now may be the most critical moment in ...

Physicists are involved in an unusually heated debate over the reality of a new kind of refraction and about the possibility of making perfect lenses. Edwin Cartlidge reports. If you think science is ...