Seeing through walls and breaking down barriers

Physicists and archaeologists are teaming up to provide research opportunities for Black and Hispanic undergraduates. Every six months on the spring and autumn equinoxes, a serpent slithers down the side of the El Castillo pyramid in Chichén Itzá, Mexico. Well, it's not a real serpent--it's an optical illusion caused by the perfect alignment of the sun and the intricate architecture of the step-pyramid, a demonstration of the mathematical precision of its Mayan architects. The pyramid was orig...