To let in so much light through the splitters requires processing the light in four mixed colors, and that processing requires studying the light's behavior in 3D.

ENGADGET: Panasonic explains how its color splitter sensor works in a vividly detailed video

And so, as we went back to our studies, we looked at studying in a completely different light.

NEWYORKER: Leap of Faith

In early 2009 Cruver met Dr. Mark Stibich and Dr. Julie Stachowiak, who were studying Russian methods of fighting tuberculosis using UV light.

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Since the changes the body goes through in zero G are so similar to the ones it goes through as it ages, studying a weightless senior citizen is supposed to shed light on both processes.

CNN: Victory Lap

Studying the neurons in the gut also may also help shed light on Parkinson's disease.

WSJ: A Gut Check for Many Ailments

The benefit of studying white dwarfs, though, is that they give off less light than other types of stars.

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Moreover, the technology could be used in "superlenses" to see details "finer than the wavelength of visible light, " but Dolling is reportedly more interested in studying the effects of his discovery than attempting to build any mystical devices, which is probably for the good of mankind, anyway.

ENGADGET: Researchers develop metamaterial with negative refractive index

Scholars studying works on optics by Greek and Arabic scientists did experiments on the nature of light using lenses and invented eye glasses in the process.

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By studying waves from galaxies that have taken millions of years to reach earth, the telescope could also shed new light on how the universe was shaped in the aftermath of the Big Bang by enabling astronomers to observe events just 300 million years into the estimated 13.7 billion-year life of the universe.

CNN: Telescope set to reveal 'Big Bang'