Monthly Archives: January 2017



This Lichtenberg figure was made by shooting a beam of electrons (~2.2 million volts) through an insulator. The pattern is illuminated by blue LEDs. (Bert Hickman, Wikipedia Commons)
Lichtenberg figures are fern-like branching structures formed from an electrical discharge on or inside of an insulator. Like snowflakes, every Lichtenberg figure is unique – an intricate and beautiful natural work of art. Lichtenberg figures form naturally, sometimes in the skin of lightning strike victims, in lightning strikes into sand […]

Make a Lichtenberg Figure the Easy Way





Pre-Columbian Peruvian mummy. (Emmanuelm, Creative Commons)
If you’ve ever seen a mummy in a museum, you might have thought the ancients went a little overboard with henna and other red dyes. While people have colored their hair practically forever, it’s more likely what you’re seeing is the change in hair color that occurs after a person […]

Your Hair Color Changes After You Die