Whispering-gallery wave Whispering-gallery wave Whispering-gallery waves, or whispering-gallery modes, are a type of wave that can travel around a concave surface. Originally discovered for sound waves in the whispering gallery of St Paul’s Cathedral, they can exist for light and for other waves, with important applications in nondestructive testing, lasing, cooling and sensing, as well as in astronomy. Whispering-gallery waves were first explained for the case of St Paul's Cathedral circa 1878 by Lord Rayleigh, who revised a previous misconception that whispers could be heard across the dome but not at any intermediate position. He explained the phenomenon of travelling whispers with
Shifting Whispering Sands Shifting Whispering Sands Shifting Whispering Sands is a Western song and poem written by Vivian Clark Gilbert and his wife Mary Margaret Hadler. It has been widely recorded, and was one of the top songs in the U.S. in 1955 and again in 1962. Members of the Western Writers of America chose it as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time. The song/poem begins with a narration by an unnamed man who is prospecting for gold in the Western U.S. He wanders into the deserted "valley of the shifting, whispering sands", and describes its desolate, frightening environment.