35 results for “light”
Matter, Energy & Physics
Light
light we have detected set out more than 13 billion years ago. Making light Light is born
Article · 4 min read
Plants & Fungi
Photosynthesis: How Plants Eat Light
light The green in leaves is a pigment called chlorophyll. It absorbs red and blue light
Article · 3 min read
Matter, Energy & Physics
Electricity and Magnetism
light, so a lamp lights the instant the switch closes. Resistance, the difficulty electrons have getting
Article · 4 min read
Space & the Universe
Black Holes
light. Nothing can go faster than light, so nothing can leave. You have made a black
Article · 3 min read
The Human Body
The Senses
light-sensitive cells. There are two kinds. About 120 million rods work in dim light and see only
Article · 4 min read
Space & the Universe
Nebulae
light of nearby stars, and because dust scatters blue light more efficiently than red, they tend
Article · 3 min read
Space & the Universe
Galaxies and the Milky Way
lights, a pale band of light arches across the sky. The ancient Greeks called it a river
Article · 4 min read
Planets & the Solar System
The Sun
light. It is so familiar that we forget what it is. The Sun is a star
Article · 4 min read
Space & the Universe
Dark Matter and Dark Energy
light in ways we would have noticed. The pattern of the cosmic microwave background, the afterglow
Article · 3 min read
Matter, Energy & Physics
Energy and Heat
light every second. Every event in nature is energy changing form. A plant turns light into
Article · 4 min read
Space & the Universe
The Big Bang
light could stream freely for the first time. That light is still travelling. The expansion of space
Article · 4 min read
The Human Body
Sleep and Dreams
Light is the clock's main signal. Bright morning light tells it the day has begun
Article · 3 min read
Planet Earth
The Atmosphere
light comes at us from every direction in the sky. At sunset the light travels through
Article · 4 min read
Animals
Birds
light body, enormous power and exquisite control, and almost every part of a bird has been
Article · 3 min read
Matter, Energy & Physics
Gravity
lights the stars and shapes the universe. Newton described it; Einstein explained it as the bending
Article · 4 min read
Space & the Universe
Exoplanets: Worlds Around Other Stars
light very slightly, blue then red then blue, and sensitive instruments can detect the rhythm. The size
Article · 3 min read
Plants & Fungi
Seeds
light. The record for patience is remarkable. A date seed excavated from a 2,000-year
Article · 4 min read
Matter, Energy & Physics
The Quantum World
light itself comes in such packets, photons. In 1913 Niels Bohr explained the colours emitted by hydrogen
Article · 4 min read
Chemistry
Chemical Reactions
Light a match, and in a fraction of a second wood and chemicals become smoke, ash, heat
Article · 3 min read
Planets & the Solar System
Uranus and Neptune
light grows feeble. Out here, twenty and thirty times farther from the Sun than Earth, orbit
Article · 4 min read
The Human Body
Skin, Hair and Nails
light from the Sun and protects the cells beneath from damage. Everyone has about the same
Article · 3 min read
Life & Biology
The Origin of Life
light, produced nucleotides and sugars too. Nature does the same chemistry without a laboratory. Meteorites that
Article · 4 min read
Space & the Universe
The Life of a Star
lights up and blows away the remaining gas around it. A single cloud usually makes hundreds
Article · 3 min read
Animals
The Octopus
light. The mimic octopus of Indonesia goes further, shaping and colouring itself to impersonate lionfish, flatfish
Article · 3 min read
Planets & the Solar System
The Moon
light of its own. Its phases are simply the changing fraction of its sunlit half that
Article · 4 min read
Animals
Whales and Dolphins
Light fades quickly in water, but sound travels far and fast, and toothed whales have made
Article · 4 min read
Plants & Fungi
Flowers and Pollination
lights toward the nectar. Hummingbirds see red well and have no sense of smell, so hummingbird
Article · 4 min read
Matter, Energy & Physics
The Periodic Table
lights and welding precisely because they are so inert. Just to their left are the halogens
Article · 4 min read
Space & the Universe
Space Exploration
light set out more than 13 billion years ago. Space in everyday life Thousands of satellites
Article · 3 min read
Animals
Animal Migration
lights lure sea turtle hatchlings away from the sea; wind farms and glass towers kill birds
Article · 4 min read
Animals
Insects
light, strong and waterproof, but it cannot grow, so a young insect must periodically split it and crawl
Article · 3 min read
Planet Earth
The Oceans
light. Deep-sea fish, squid and jellyfish flash and glow to find food, mates and each
Article · 4 min read
Matter, Energy & Physics
Sound
Light is almost a million times faster than sound. That is why you see lightning before
Article · 3 min read
Matter, Energy & Physics
Atoms
light of a specific colour. Those colours are the fingerprint of each element, and they are how astronomers
Article · 4 min read
Life & Biology
DNA and Genes
light in your eye. The code is universal. The same triplets mean the same amino acids
Article · 4 min read
