In this episode of the Physics World Weekly podcast, I chat with the KU Leuven astrophysicist Abigail Frost about a mysterious stellar system that was thought to harbour the closest black hole to Earth. Instead, Frost and colleagues have shown that the system comprises a star that has been stripped by its “vampire” partner. She explains how different research groups competed and co-operated to gain a better understanding of the system, which is called HR 6819.

Also featured this week is Frank-Oliver Karutz, who is chief technology officer of Germany’s tooz technologies. He talks about the company’s curved waveguide technology that is used to make smart eyeglasses for augmented reality and other applications. The firm has partnered with Jade Bird Display (JBD) of China to create eyeglasses that provide the wearer with bright virtual images on prescription lenses that are otherwise transparent.

Below is an illustration of how the tooz and JBD eyeglasses work.