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Unlike a camera, flies and other animals can tune their eyes to the light levels of different regions of an image independently. In nature, the individual cells of the eye adjust to a part of the image independently in order to capture the maximum amount of information about the scene. By comparison, an ordinary camera measures the average brightness of a scene (or part of it), and then decides on a single setting for the whole frame. So...

A bid has been submitted to see a south of Scotland forest recognised as the first "dark sky park" outside the US.

The traditional incandescent bulb is on the way out. European law means people will be encouraged to use longer-lasting, energy-efficient lights instead. But many remain unconvinced that the common alternative - compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) - are up to the job.

The 50th anniversary of the first demonstration of a ruby laser at the Hughes Research Labs in the US.

Plants are able to "remember" and "react" to information contained in light, according to researchers. Plants, scientists say, transmit information about light intensity and quality from leaf to leaf in a very similar way to our own nervous systems. These "electro-chemical signals" are carried by cells that act as "nerves" of the plants.