Structural Color in Butterfly Wings

Several people asked me after class about my comment on the iridescent color in Butterfly wings being due to the interaction of special structures on the wing with light. I thought I'd give you a link to the paper which you can get for free if you're on the Case campus. Also check out Dr Vukusic's website on iridescence in nature.

Looking for Hawking Radiation in SQUIDS

One of the most wonderful things about Physics is that sometimes two completely different systems are described by the same mathematics. When this happens, we find analogues between their behavior. In this article from Physics (a "newsy" journal highlighting cutting edge research), some recent research in looking at on object mathematically similar to a Black Hole exhibits something analogous to Hawking radiation promises to advance our understanding of these objects experimentally.

Society: Displays everywhere

Interesting article in the Guardian commenting on the ubiquity of electronic displays in our lives – especially in advertising around London. What do you think about the ramifications of displays everywhere? Is it great to be connected to information wherever you need it? Or is it intrusive?

Application: Gigantic jets blast electricity into upper atmosphere

There's a cool article in New Scientist about "jets" that transport charge from thunderclouds up into the ionosphere. These were only recently photographed (in 2003): see the article for a cool video. We'll be talking a little later in the course about lightening and thunderstorms.

Welcome to the Blog

Welcome to my blog for the Case PHY122 Introductory Electricity and Magnetism course which is running this Fall semester 2009. In this blog, I'm going to provide cool links to contemporary applications of E&M both in the news and from new science as well as share my thoughts and tips on the topics that we cover.

Enjoy!

--- Tim Atherton