Scientists Create "Wormhole" For Magnetic Fields

Fanghawk

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Scientists Create "Wormhole" For Magnetic Fields

A "wormhole" created by the Autonomous University of Barcelona masks magnetic fields so well it's like they're in an "extra special dimension".

<a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/video-games/editorials/editors_note/643-Where-s-My-Flying-Car>We all want flying cars, but even if the future doesn't look like we imagined, science can still make it <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/134688-Science-Discovers-Method-Of-Turning-Light-Into-Matter>an amazing one. Take wormholes, hypothetical shortcuts connecting two distant points of spacetime that we might one day travel through. Sadly, we have no proof such a concept actually applies to matter - but perhaps the description is apt for magnetic fields. According to physicists from the Autonomous University of Barcelona, not only can a "wormhole" mask magnetic fields from view, the process has been completed in a lab.

"This device can transmit the magnetic field from one point in space to another point, through a path that is magnetically invisible," study co-author Jordi Prat-Camps explained. "From a magnetic point of view, this device acts like a wormhole, as if the magnetic field was transferred through an extra special dimension."

While this isn't the space-time wormhole we imagine from Stargate, it's still quite impressive. The Autonomous University of Barcelona's team created a three-layer object, made up of two concentric spheres and an interior spiral-cylinder. While the interior layer of the object transmitted the magnetic field, the other two layers completely blocked the field's existence. This sounds simple enough, but it's really freaking hard to do, since magnetic fields are supposed to be detectable from all points around it. Yet outside of the object, the field might as well not exist according to most traditional observation methods.

"From a magnetic point of view, you have the magnetic field from the magnet disappearing at one end of the wormhole and appearing again at the other end of the wormhole," Prat-Camps said.

So what practical applications does this discovery have? Consider MRI machines, which currently require patients to stick themselves into a claustrophobic central tube powered by a large magnet. But if a "wormhole" could funnel magnetic fields without ruining their integrity, doctors could take pictures from a distance that's more comfortable for the patient. It's not quite as exciting as a spacetime wormhole might be one day, but still important all the same.

Source: Scientific American

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Tatsuki

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Other than.

Fanghawk said:
the process can has been completed in a lab.
I like the article but comparing it to a wormhole is a bit of a stretch. Being able to mask and effectively block magnetic fields is quite cool though and should have many mechanical applications but at the end of the day, magnets are awesome anyway.

I wonder how small this theory could be reduced down to as details are a bit sparse as to how it is done. I mean, could we in theory make some magnetic field proof headgear so people with shrapnel / metal plates could have an MRI scan?
 

FalloutJack

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Nov 20, 2008
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Tatsuki said:
Other than.

Fanghawk said:
the process can has been completed in a lab.
I like the article but comparing it to a wormhole is a bit of a stretch. Being able to mask and effectively block magnetic fields is quite cool though and should have many mechanical applications but at the end of the day, magnets are awesome anyway.

I wonder how small this theory could be reduced down to as details are a bit sparse as to how it is done. I mean, could we in theory make some magnetic field proof headgear so people with shrapnel / metal plates could have an MRI scan?
I think that the masking is kind of in quotation marks, since it looks like they're saying "These magnetic fields are being transported between two points with nothing in the middle.". The MRI comment would imply this since it wouldn't help at all if it was a case of it only seeming like it wasn't there at all or something.

Still, there is one thing...

Fanghawk said:
So what practical applications does this discovery have? Consider MRI machines, which currently require patients to stick themselves into a claustrophobic central tube powered by a large magnet.
They solved this problem a long time ago with open MRI machines.
 

Stupidity

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Is this a more efficient means of extending magnetic effects? If so, this is exciting news for wannabe Magnetos.

How has no one posted one of those "Magnets, How do they work?" meme pics.
 

EndlessSporadic

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I'm not sure of the practicality of this kind of discovery, but I'm all for progress however small it may be.
 

TheSYLOH

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EndlessSporadic said:
I'm not sure of the practicality of this kind of discovery, but I'm all for progress however small it may be.
Here's the practical purpose. If you can get a packet of electromagnetic radiation to go straight through, light can go past whatever is in the center.
Meaning they just invented a cloaking device.
 

Thaluikhain

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FalloutJack said:
I think that the masking is kind of in quotation marks, since it looks like they're saying "These magnetic fields are being transported between two points with nothing in the middle.". The MRI comment would imply this since it wouldn't help at all if it was a case of it only seeming like it wasn't there at all or something.
Not from my reading, they've "just" balanced things out so the magnetic field in the middle doesn't affect things outside it. Which will likely be useful for something someday.
 

Made in China

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I can see it having many uses in data security - instead of transmitting you WiFi signal everywhere, you direct it to a single room or computer, thereby eliminating unwanted observers. You can do the same for confidential documents, if you're thinking strictly on the visible light spectrum.

That being said, this defies everything I know about magnetic fields and wave behavior. As said in the article, for it to coexist with our current knowledge, they would've needed to use another dimension previously unknown or unreachable to us, and that is pretty exciting. I'm guessing they wouldn't publish an article about masking the signal through normal methods.

And I think it does constitute as a wormhole. They've transmitted photons through two points in space without traversing the space between them, essentially "teleporting" them. Even if it doesn't work for matter yet, it's a start. Beam me up, Scotty.
 

Sewa_Yunga

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Fanghawk said:
A "wormhole" created by the Autonomous University of Barcelona masks magnetic fields so well it's like they're in an "extra special dimension".
I'm pretty sure they meant an extra-spatial dimension, since they're talking about things behaving as if they were not in 3D-Space.

Whenever I read extra special I have to think of this:

 

iblis666

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fractal_butterfly said:
If I understand it correctly, this might be a good basis for tricorder like technology.
was thinking the exact same thing, but if you think further it might be the basis for many of star treks sensor arrays (obviously along with other tech)
 

Caffiene

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Fanghawk said:
Consider MRI machines, which currently require patients to stick themselves into a claustrophobic central tube powered by a large magnet. But if a "wormhole" could funnel magnetic fields without ruining their integrity, doctors could take pictures from a distance that's more comfortable for the patient.
What? How? The "wormhole device" is a physical structure of two spheres and a rod made of metamaterials. The only way you could use this to "take pictures from further away" is to put the wormhole device right next to the patient and spin it around just like you have to do with the magnets in current MRI.

Sure it funnels stuff, but you have to put the funnel right up in their face. I cant see how that solves anything at all.
 

Nailzzz

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We'll at least the next time I hear screaming from a lab, I will just assume that it is Jordi Prat-Camps screaming from the aurora chair. I fear Scorpius will be very disappointed.
 

Smooth Operator

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People we are simply talking about a gigantic ball that extends a magnetic field from one end to the other, and you don't have a large amount of magnetic leakage from the ball. That is it, this shit does not have magical multidimensional fairy powers.

Not exactly sure what use it has but I'm sure someone can find something, particularly the monopolar property. For all regular applications it makes fuck all difference if you put a ball on your magnet or just move the damn magnet closer.