Sleep usually happens at night. For our ancestors, there were very practical reasons for this. Artificial light was expensive, high maintenance, and not without danger. Also, it was too dim for most kinds of work. Then Thomas Edison made electrical light affordable for daily use – and it was possible to work all night too. …
It’s that time of year again. The days are getting darker and shorter. The moods are getting heavier. But there is a light at the end of the tunnel – Christmas. And like every year it’s promising to get even brighter and more colourful than last year. To make this clear, I do like Christmas …
Where do you look when you’re out and about after dark? The street? The shopping windows? Your smartphone? Or up to the sky? Probably not the latter. I can fully understand that when you’re in a big city, because, let’s be honest, there isn’t much to look at. You might see the moon, Venus, a …
I’m quite picky with books these days. Time is precious, and there are so many average books in the shops that opening a new one often is a frustrating business. Then I found Under a Dark Sky by Lori Rader-Day – and couldn’t put it down. I didn’t choose the book because of the many good …
Please read the petition by Sibylle Schroer from Stars For All. She suggests to limit light emissions to sensible levels and conduct more research on light levels used in outdoor settings. Here is the full petition, if you like to sign, here is the link to the EU petition. Here is a short article about …
It’s always easy to complain if something is bad. However, there is only useful change when someone also has ideas how to make it better. Many communities want to have street lighting that combines cost efficiency, safety, climate protection, and comfortable light. But the actual outcomes of new street lightings are mostly quite sober. Last …
Five o’clock in the morning. Lake Stechlin is dark and silent. Only a few lights are moving at the Old Fisherhut. The LakeLab scientists are getting ready to work. We get into the boats, switch off our lights, and drive out onto the lake. After a few moments the eerie glow of the LakeLab becomes …
If you’re at the sea, and it’s a warm night, what would you do? I would walk along the beach and take in the night with all its beauty. Start with the sound of the waves, savour the outlines of rocks, add some starlight and the moon. Perfect! Alas, these days this turns out to …
I often read or hear that women who walk around at night want lots of light so they can see everyone who approaches them and spot a potential danger early enough to prepare themselves. This is usually said by a man. Well, I’m a woman, and I frequently walk around after dark. Sometimes I walk …
‘Let’s kill the moonlight!’ proclaimed the Italian poet Filippo Marinetti a few years after Edison’s incadescent lamp enchanted the world. With all our light pollution, we have been quite successful in doing this. And today, some people believe they can create an artificial moonlight. The light of a 4000 Kelvin LED street lamp, so some …