Understand the physics behind total internal reflection and why light can become completely trapped inside a medium. This video explains the conditions required for total internal reflection, the role ...

Cool operator: the Saharan silver ant Cataglyphis bombycina. (Courtesy: P Landmann) A species of desert-dwelling ant is able to tolerate temperatures exceeding 50 °C because its body hairs act like ...

Refraction close refractionProcess by which a wave changes speed and sometimes direction upon entering a denser or less dense medium, eg a light ray changes direction when refracted by a lens. from a ...

In TIRF microscopy, fluorescent molecules are in a sample in an aqueous environment that is near a solid with a high refractive index, usually a glass coverslip. At what is called the critical angle, ...

The body hairs of the Saharan silver ant cause total internal reflection of light to make the ants almost ten times more reflective, preventing overheating and yielding their silver sheen, according ...

Exploiting a novel technique called phase discontinuity, researchers have induced light rays to behave in a way that defies the centuries-old laws of reflection and refraction. The discovery has led ...