This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American The observable universe is one big, giant ...

Jet material ejected from a black hole is magnified in new observations from Caltech's Owens Valley Radio Observatory. This discovery provides the best view yet of blobs of hot gas that shoot out from ...

In this article, I'll show you how to make an awesome "Death Ray" using the large magnifying lens from an old projection TV. The lens is called a Fresnel lens; a device that employs several ridges to ...