At http://phys.org/print254201605.html … a paper in Physical Review Letters asks the question, can light bend into an arc? The answer it appears is in Maxwell's equations – equations governing electro-magnetism.
At Tall Bloke's Talk Shop another couple of thought provoking postings. At http://tallbloke.wordpress.com/2012/04/22/ian-wilson-resynchronisation-o… … astrophysicist Ian Wilson asks the questions overlooked by the mainstream. He also addresses solar sun spot cycles and why they repeat themselves and comes to the surprising idea tha solar sun spot cycles re-synchronise themselves with the gravitational force of Jupiter that is tangentially pushing and pulling upon the Venus-Earth tidal bulge. This means, he thinks, that tidal torque from Jupiter upon the Venus-Earth tidal bulge must also play a role in long term changes in the level of activity on the face of the Sun. Tallbloke adds in comment number one that both tidal and barycentric considerations need to be integrated in order to gain a better understanding of the possible affects of planetary motion on the variation of solar activity levels. Then adds another point – the sum of the planetary mass.
At http://tallbloke.wordpress.com/2012/04/23/evidence-for-a-160-minute-osci… … which again is pushing at the boundaries of the mainstream and airing some very controversial ideas that are generally ignored or debunked in orthodox group think. It concerns the work of Valery Kotov of the Astrophysical Observatory in the Crimea. Basically, variations in the luminosity of the Sun and some other stars (a 160 minute oscillation)