Teleportation. Invisibility cloaks. Light that can be slowed to a halt. To Emory physicist Sidney Perkowitz, these concepts have a few similarities to one another. Until recently, they were all the stuff of science fiction. And they have everything to do with contemporary physics research into how light works.

Perkowitz explores the latest research and its connections with science fiction in his new book, "Slow Light: Invisibility, Teleportation and other Mysteries of Light" (Imperial College Press, 2011). The book is written for a lay audience interested in the science of light and curious about what researchers are doing now that could have implications for our future.