Still-life artists know that to make an image of an object look like the real thing, they must account for the way light reflects off it. The appearance of these glimmers—their color, position and ...

Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story: Researchers have found a way to mimic lightspeed when photographing an object. The method involves stitching together many thin “slices” of light ...

An image printed on reflectance paper responds to the direction from which it is illuminated. The reflectance paper is covered with dimples that reflect light from different directions. See video ...

Holograms. Practically every sci-fi movie and TV show from the last 50 years has some version of this futuristic technology. A realistic 3D object composed of nothing more than light, usually hovering ...

Ever wonder how a mirror works? If you want to find the path that light takes when reflecting off a surface, you could use Fermat's Principle. This states something like this: The path that light ...

Mirrors are a great way to amplify natural light in a room. By placing mirrors opposite windows or near light sources, they reflect sunlight and spread it throughout the space. This not only makes ...

In the movie "Predator," an alien uses a cloaking device to hide in plain sight, but the effect is far from perfect: The alien's attempt to conceal itself is thwarted by distortions of light bending ...

Teaching in Room 9 is available to stream on pbs.org and the free PBS App, available on iPhone, Apple TV, Android TV, Android smartphones, Amazon Fire TV, Amazon Fire Tablet, Roku, Samsung Smart TV, ...