August 10th, 2008
Blink! Scientists move closer to invisibility cloak
Scientists at the University of California – funded by the U.S. Army and the National Science Foundation – are a step closer to developing an invisibility cloak, the team reports in Nature and Science.
According to the AP, the researchers have demonstrated the ability to cloak 3D objects using artificially engineered materials that redirect light around objects.
People can see objects because they scatter the light that strikes them, reflecting some of it back to the eye. Cloaking uses materials, known as metamaterials, to deflect radar, light or other waves around an object, like water flowing around a smooth rock in a stream.
Metamaterials … are designed to bend visible light in a way that ordinary materials don’t. Scientists are trying to use them to bend light around objects so they don’t create reflections or shadows.
Best comment on this story comes from Pharyngula. Dan says “We must fund this research to be ready for war with the Klingons.”
