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"Optical illusions are more than just a bit of fun. Scientist Beau Lotto is finding out what tricking the brain reveals about how our minds work. Here he explains his findings. "

How does a lens form an image? See how light rays are refracted by a lens. Watch how the image changes when you adjust the focal length of the lens, move the object, move the lens, or move the screen.

"In the few, limited tests conducted outside the United States, BPS shows estrogenic activity - not as strong as BPA, but not a good sign. BPS is now used in the United States to make PES (polyethersulfone) plastic. Some baby bottles marketed as BPA-free use PES plastic. Bisphenols are shaping up to be a dysfunctional family of chemicals. BPAF is BPA's fluorinated twin. It is used in electronic devices, optical fibers and more. New studies have found BPAF to be an even more potent endocrine disrupter than BPA. Bisphenol B and Bisphenol F are other variants used instead of BPA in various products. In the limited testing done on those chemicals in other countries, scientists found Bisphenol B to be more potent than BPA in stimulating breast cancer cells. "

Researchers have devised a penny-sized silicon chip that uses photons to run Shor's algorithm - a well-known quantum approach - to solve a maths problem. The algorithm computes the two numbers that multiply together to form a given figure, and has until now required laboratory-sized optical computers. This kind of factoring is the basis for a wide variety of encryption schemes.

Canadian scientist Willard S. Boyle received the Nobel for physics Thursday, a prize he's sharing with two other physicists honoured for their work in optics.

"Watch what happens with these diamonds (no camera tricks or special effects used here)"

"A US-based team of scientists claims to have invented a material that releases over two weeks of night-vision light after just one minute's exposure to the sun. The University of Georgia team says the near-infrared emitting substance could offer the military "secret" illumination at nighttime."

"Extremely simple concept with stunning results. The illusion may look complicated but it was really very easy to make."

"If you send in a sample of something and a form, they'll run it through their scanning electron microscope for free, and post the images online. Their site explaining the process outlines the 5 steps to make it happen: find a sample, fill out a form, send them to ASPEX, wait for them to scan it (usually about 2 weeks), and look at it online."

To give everybody an opportunity to make his own "hands on" experience with the Nanoworld we provide all information to build up and use some of the standard equipment of this fascinating field of science, starting with the Nobel-Prize-Winner of 1986: the Scanning-Tunneling-Microscope (STM).

"This is a collection of resources on this and other sites"

"The microscope imaged objects down to just 50 billionths of a metre to yield a never-before-seen, direct glimpse into the "nanoscopic" world. "

"A digital camera that allows photographers to focus their pictures after taking them has gone on sale. Rather than recording a single version of an image, the Lytro captures data about the intensity and direction of all the light entering its lenses."