Research

  MIT researchers have created a silicon-based LED that is less than one micron across. This is less than one thousandth of a millimeter (mm) across. Despite the tiny size, the new LED has a high intensity, which allowed the researchers to create a holographic microscope. This advance could allow a smartphone camera to become [...]

  Researchers at Linköping University and the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden, have created the first functioning transistor made of wood. This represents an early step in the development of biodegradable electronics. The researchers started with balsa wood and removed the lignin that makes wood strong and rigid. This created cellulose fibers with [...]

  Glass blocks have been utilized for many decades to create translucent walls or wall sections. However, glass block is not able to create loadbearing walls and is not a good insulating material. A group of Swiss researchers have developed a new aerogel-filled translucent brick that is both highly insulating and can create load-bearing walls. [...]

  A lot of research and attention has been given to how light pollution negatively impacts birds, bats, other animals, and insects. Less well known are the negative impacts of light pollution on plants. Most people have seen now bright lights at night attract moths. This can significantly change moth behavior. Artificial light at night [...]

In February, I published a story about whether a new trend in toroidal propellers could lead to toroidal ceiling fan blades, here. This article became one of the most viewed LightNOW posts of the past year, garnering 10 times the views of a typical post. As a follow up, let’s explore the trend of bladeless ceiling [...]

Researchers at the University of Buffalo have published a study demonstrating that light therapy reduces heart disease in mice. If these results hold true in human trials, this could be an extremely important finding. Heart disease is the #1 cause of death in the U.S. One in five Americans dies of heart disease. A simple, [...]

Researchers at the University of Toronto demonstrated a window technology that utilizes multiple layers of plastic sheets that can be filled with different pigments to selectively filter infrared (IR) heat and/or visible light. This approach has the potential to dramatically reduce HVAC energy requirements for buildings. Different layers within the prototype window filter out infrared [...]

Korean micro-LED manufacturer, Lumens, announced in January, the development of R-G-B micro-LEDs grown in a stack, on a single wafer / substrate (aka monolithic). The benefits of this approach include reducing the transfer process by two-thirds, reducing costs, and increasing productivity. The first applications for this technology are the micro-LED display markets, including TV, AR, [...]

I recently had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Alp Durmus, Assistant Professor in the Department of Architectural Engineering at Pennsylvania State University (PSU). Many in the lighting industry know this department as a top academic lighting program in the US, but fewer know about its lighting lab. My tour of the lab’s capabilities was very [...]