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The article offers information on defying the laws of optics to extract a blurry image of two people lurking around the corner. Topics discussed include discovering that the shadows are full of visual information that our eyes can't see, and computer scientist Ramesh Raskar at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology knew that some of the photons fired by the laser would scatter off the wall, rebound off the manikin and then scatter off the wall again.

The article discusses images created through the control of an optical phenomena, called caustics. Topics include an overview of caustics, which are patterns created by the refraction or reflection of light by curved surfaces, such as the bright lines of light on the bottom of a swimming pool, a demonstration of Mark Pauly and colleagues' technique for refracting light in a specific way by shaping the surface of perspex (plexiglass) to produce an image of computer scientist Alan Turing, and a history of the use of mirrors to create complex patterns of light. A diagram illustrating how a precisely shaped piece of glass refracts and focuses light so that it projects an image onto a screen is presented.

The article focuses on the design of a hypertelescope, a new breed of space telescope that is capable of mapping distant cousins of Earth in exquisite detail. The telescope is being developed by Antoine Labeyrie. Measuring hundreds of kilometres across, these hypertelescopes will be large enough to resolve a green patch the size of the Amazon basin on an alien world 10 light years away. Such images could tell about the sway of the seasons, clinching evidence for life on planets outside the solar system. Labeyrie's design for a hypertelescope takes dilute optics to the extreme. Ultimately his Exo-Earth Imager will consist of at least 150 mirror elements, each measuring 3 metres across, and spread out over an area of about 8000 square kilometres.

The article focuses on findings related to quantum mechanics. We are getting used to hearing extremely upbeat predictions about how weird quantum behavior can change the way one communicates. These forecasts have thrilled researchers in the field of optics and telecommunications because they seem to herald strange feats, such as teleporting particles across huge distances. The first stage of teleportation relies on a seemingly supernatural link that ties quantum particles together over any distance. Known as entanglement, this intimate connection arises when two particles bump into each other or come into existence in the same process. INSETS: Lost reality;The key to teleportation.

David Grier is a physicist at the University of Chicago, Illinois. Peer through Grier's microscope and you would see hundreds of glass beads tumbling in formation, doing an eightsome reel or shimmying through a bath of solution. Grier's precision choreography is on the point of revolutionising how scientists handle objects on the microscale. He has invented computer-generated holograms that can split laser light into any number of different beams and use them to move cells around at will.

Focuses on the iridescent butterfly Morpho, and the interlocking scales on its wings that reflect blue light. Morpho as an optical device; Different species, rhetenor and didius; Angles at which Morpho reflects blue light; Applications for camouflaging vehicles with the scale structure to create active camouflage; Possibility of using Morpho for the basis of anti-counterfeiting devices; Difficulties in trying to mimic the scales of Morpho. INSET: To dazzle or not to dazzle.

Presents letters to the editor on optics. Comment on the fine wire set-up constituting a diffraction grating; Claims of its refuting the classical optics rather than standard quantum mechanics; New path formed for the photons.

Discusses research on atom optics in creating a densely packed microchips. American researchers use of lasers to create metallic structures at the atomic scale; Experiment procedure.

The article looks at a study by Peng Zhang of the University of California, Berkeley, which steered surface plasmons, electrons excited when light hits metal, with a beam of light produced by shining a laser through a printed screen and could be used to improve imaging and create optical circuits.

The article discusses stimulated emission depletion (STED) microscopy, a method for avoiding the diffraction limit which prevents regular microscopes from showing objects less than a few hundred nanometers in size. It uses laser beams, and is described as an advance over the near-field scanning optical microscope.

The article discusses a technique called caustics that creates complex images by engraving intricate patterns on the surface of a transparent sheet such as glass or plexiglas. A collaboration of researchers at England's University College London and Disney Research in Switzerland are using caustics to reproduce photographic images.

The article discusses a research study in an issue of "Optics Express," by scientists at the University of Sydney's Institute of Photonics and Optical Science in Australia, who have used a computer model to design an invisible version of a fiber made from optical metamaterials. Topics include details on the team's development of an invisible optical fiber and how it works.

The article discusses a report in a 2010 issue of "Optics Express" regarding research by physicists at the University of Colorado, Boulder, who have developed a device called the dark laser. The dark laser generates short pulses of darkness separated by long intervals of brightness as opposed to the standard laser which sends out short pulses of light with long intervals of darkness. A brief discussion regarding the use of dark lasers in optical communications is presented.

The article discusses the development of a metamaterial that will absorb virtually all the light that hits it. According to the author, metamaterials exhibit optical properties not found in nature as a result of their array-like internal structure. Topics include an overview of research by physicists of Purdue University and Norfolk State University who have created a metamaterial capable of absorbing all electromagnetic radiation in a particular range with no reflected light.

The article discusses research reported by optical engineer Geoffroy Lerosey on lenses capable of resolving objects smaller than the wavelength of light.

The article reports on an experiment conducted by Filbert Bartoli and Qiaoqiang Gan of Lehigh University in Pennsylvania which sought to trap rainbows of visible and infrared light. They simulated a silver grating 25 micrometers long with a dimension that changed over its length. This design slowed down the incoming light, with different frequencies trapped at different regions along the grating. The application of this technology on optical computing is discussed.

The article explains how scientists have created a cloak that can bend microwaves in such a way as to make an object nearly invisible. The layers of metal used to absorb and bend light can do so on a very small scale. As the cloak increases in size, it collects more light and would appear as a spot of darkness as a result.

The article presents information on the gardening column of the newspaper "London Daily Mail." In the column of the May 28 issue there was a question regarding certain colours which appear more dominant than others. This is due to the speed at which each colour travels towards the eye, reds, being produced by short-wave light, travel very quickly while blues are long waves which proceed more slowly. Presumably, infrared has an even shorter wavelength and travels even faster to make us hot, while ultraviolet is longer and slower, giving it more time to interact and cause skin and eye damage.

The article focuses on the life of scientist Mary Ward, who died at the age of 42 on August 31, 1869 in a car accident. When other women spent their time in genteel pursuits such as music or sewing, Mary spent hers with her eyes glued to either microscope or telescope. For a Victorian woman with a passion for science, she had the good fortune to belong to one of the most inventive families in Ireland. She detected Halley's comet with her telescope at the age of 8. Mary read everything she could about microscopy and was soon more expert than the experts.

Every lens made has been limited by the wavelength of the light it focuses. Canadian engineers have made the first "perfect lens", which can focus features smaller than the wavelength of the light itself. John Pendry of Imperial College, London, suggested in 2000 that such a lens might be built using so-called left-handed materials, which refract light in the opposite direction to normal. Normally, these "evanescent" waves are too weak to make it through a regular lens. Left-handed materials have since been built, but no one was able to create a perfect lens from them.

BBC teletext announced on 13 February that an amateur astronomer has discovered a young star emerging from a dust cloud. Jay McNeil made the rare discovery from his observatory in Kentucky, next to the well-known gas cloud, Messier 78. An unusual phenomenon of optical transference seems to be at work in Sefton Park Asda store in Liverpool, Great Britain. Reader Lew Hunt was surprised to see a sign in opticians' department that advised "Contact lens patients should remember to bring their lenses with them or we will be unable to see them."

The article reports that, computer scientists begin testing an augmented reality (AR) technology viewer that superimposes computer images onto the view seen through a modified telescope. Instead of using the telescope's optics, the objective end of the telescope is a simple open aperture. A built-in personal computer projects the AR images onto a transparent display stationed between the eyepiece and the aperture, so the viewer sees the real scene overlaid with graphics that change realistically as the telescope pans or tilts. Unlike virtual-reality devices, which show only computer generated images, the AR system overlays its images on reality.

Presents information on the development of so-called smart spectacles technology by Pablo Artal. Ability of the spectacles to correct transient imperfections of the eye 25 times per second; How the spectacles work; Possible applications.

Reports on the development of a method for producing 3-dimensional images of a scene. Measurement of photons which are bounced off of objects in a pulse of laser light; Use of a multichannel plate detector; Benefits of this method over others, including speed.

Focuses on the fourth color receptor that usually provides the ultraviolet pigment. How humans and many other primates only have three color receptors in their eyes; That a wide variety of species from chameleons to goldfish have four color receptors; Genetic aspects; Evolutional aspects.

Focuses on a technique called `shadow stereo' to measure the depth of the blind spot at the back of the eye. How this technique is being used to read ancient Roman tablets discovered near Hadrian's Wall; The work of Alan Bowman and Mike Brady; How shadow stereo works.

Focuses on a new system developed by researchers in the US which uses holograms to find the distortions in optical fibers and pretreats the light to compensate for the distortion. Multimode fibers; Loss of uniform polarization; Useful applications including microsurgery; Laser beams.

Reports that a British scientist has updated the Huygens principle of optics. Scientific details of the principle; Intention of Christiaan Huygens in formulating the principle; Flaw of the principle; Scientific uses of the optics law; Method discovered by David Miller on how the backward waves in Huygens principle can be made to disappear.

Reports on the method invented by John Kimball, physicist at the University of Albany in New York, for calculating the fastest route for sailing from point A to B based on the mathematics of optics. Information on the Fermat principle one of the founding base of optical physics; Description of the methodology used to calculate the fastest route; Reference to the study found in the `European Journal of Physics' volume 19.

Discusses the unusual behavior that has been attributed to prisms on record jackets and advertising copy and why material with this ultra low refractive index has not been found. Description of the refractive index; Most spectacular example; How the optics industry could change if this breakthrough became available.