I think everybody's mind went to "girls Locker room" in .00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000005 secons while reading the title.
Invisibility Cloak Might Actually Be Possible
- Thread starter Greg Tito
- Start date
No girls locker room will be safe from me!!!
... That sounded less creepy in my head.
EDIT: Dammit, I knew I should've posted immediately. Now I have been ninja'd.
... That sounded less creepy in my head.
EDIT: Dammit, I knew I should've posted immediately. Now I have been ninja'd.
Well looks like we're on track to the future predicted by Ghost in the Shell, although I know I saw multiple other optic camouflage projects, most of which have been reposted already.
I read about this in Popular Science a few years back, and they're just now writing about it?
Oh well, I still think it'd be freakin SWEEEEEET.
Oh well, I still think it'd be freakin SWEEEEEET.
I wouldnt mind an invisibilty cloak, I would mind having my cluster busted by the pointy corner of the briefcase being swung by the man who can't see me.
All the GameStops will be robbed, which will cause a new technology to find the robbers, like heat-seaking missiles, which will cause people to cover themself in mud before they put on their cloak, which will require yet another tech to find them before they walk out the door.
Scare people, and i think Germany is trying to make up for that nasty incident that happened in the earlier mid 1900's by making what could the best thing until someone invent's the food creating microwave.
didn't they already find out about metamaterials, which theoretically could bend light around the object actively due to a negative refraction?Greg Tito said:Invisibility Cloak Might Actually Be Possible
A cloak of invisibility has been a staple of fantasy literature from folklore to Harry Potter but a team of scientists has proved that such an item might become a reality.
The idea of becoming invisible is up there on every gamer's wishlist. Whether it's through wearing a cloak, casting a spell, putting on a magic ring, or hiding your ship with a cloaking device, you've probably accomplished the feat hundreds of times in games. But what if we were able to create a real Cloak of Invisibility? A team of scientists at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany have published a paper describing how they were able to fabricate a small piece of matter which rendered objects beneath it invisible. Fabrication techniques still limit the size of the object that they can hide but the team at least proved that such an item is feasible.
The study was led by scientist named Tolga Ergin. He said that the theory behind the experiment came from an idea first proposed by the English professor, Sir John Pendry from Imperial College London.
"He proposed the theoretical design of having an object hidden under a bump and making the bump disappear," said Dr. Ergin. "It's like a carpet mirror. If you hide an object under it, there is a bump, so you see a distortion in the reflected image. We put the carpet cloak on top of that bump and it bends the light so that the distortions disappear. You have the impression that the mirror you're looking at is flat."
Previously, it was possible to drill very tiny holes into an object using a laser which would bend the light so that an object beneath it would appear invisible. But this process had a limit in that this effect only functioned when looking at the object from one direction. Ergin's team got around this limitation and made 3D invisibility possible by using "laser writing" on a photo sensitive material.
"Wherever you put the focus spot into the material, it will harden," said Dr. Ergin. "It's a similar process to photography - when you develop it, whatever hasn't been exposed to the laser will be washed away."
Unfortunately, using this technique they were only able to make a cloak that could hide an object one micrometer [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micrometre] (one millionth of a meter) long.
"It took us three hours to make this structure, so if you wanted to make it even one millimeter [one thousandth of a meter] in size you would have to wait a very long time," said Dr. Ergin. "But in theory there are no limits. You could blow this up and hide a house."
Neat stuff, even if they are in the very early stages. What would you do if you had a real invisibility cloak?
Source: BBC [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8574923.stm]
(Image [http://www.flickr.com/photos/alancleaver/2878450165/])
Permalink
http://spectrum.ieee.org/biomedical/imaging/metamaterials-breakthrough-brings-invisibility-closer
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080811092450.htm
I'd much rather prefer this, because at least I could move around and remain invisible
Every male (and some females) out there would use it to spy on nekkid people. Those nekkid people would then all use them to hide from the spying people. Wealthy famous people use them to escape notice of crowds and the weak use them to evade the predators in dangerous areas. Next thing you know, everyone wears them while showering or changing, and half the people in the world seem to disappear. Crime rates go up as invisible people steal everything, and then the cloaks become outlawed to the general public. Bodies become harder to find and the mobs go up in power as they continue to use them while the police are forced to work in the open.
In the meantime, the armed forces of the world uses them to hide from each other and civilian casualties go up as it makes it easier for terrorism and harder for soldiers.
So, me? I don't think I'd want one, other than to hide from other spying perverts. I'd much rather be granted flight or shapeshifting than invisibility. Personally I think it'd just make things confusing and frustrating and would kinda hate to see them become a commonplace reality. Sorry to be a downer.
In the meantime, the armed forces of the world uses them to hide from each other and civilian casualties go up as it makes it easier for terrorism and harder for soldiers.
So, me? I don't think I'd want one, other than to hide from other spying perverts. I'd much rather be granted flight or shapeshifting than invisibility. Personally I think it'd just make things confusing and frustrating and would kinda hate to see them become a commonplace reality. Sorry to be a downer.
I read about the earliest stages of this project a few years back in a scientific research paper at university. Back then I said it was all mumbo jumbo, but I guess my fellow countrymen just made me eat those words. Again, Germany has blinded me with science (quite literally this time)...
SCIENCE!
SCIENCE!
Gotta love science... Hmm, the possibilities are ENDLESS!
And why stop at one 'bump'? Why not 2, and when you have 2, you can have 4... and then more and more... *evil laughter here*
Knowledge is power. Power corrupts.
Study Hard! Be Evil!
I have several things that I wish were completely invisible... out of sight - out of mind.
And why stop at one 'bump'? Why not 2, and when you have 2, you can have 4... and then more and more... *evil laughter here*
Knowledge is power. Power corrupts.
Study Hard! Be Evil!
I have several things that I wish were completely invisible... out of sight - out of mind.