Related Sections: Future Tech
A cloak of invisibility that really (sort of) works
"Sometimes I get so embarrassed I wish I could just disappear." Sound familiar? Are you a sad person that wants to just disappear? Well, stop your sniveling, cause science has your back. We told you it was possible, and now they went and done did it. By using heat to bend rays of light around an object, scientists were able to make a wee cloak of invisibility that actually works. Well, sort of. It hides an object from microwaves and radar waves, but visible light still got through. That means you'd be able to see it, but electronic devices would not. That's all well and good, but it's not as exciting as a version that would bend visible light as well, as what fun is an invisible object if you can see it? Looks like you're stuck crying pathetically out in public for a while longer, sad man. Sorry to get your hopes up. Thanks for the tip, James!
By Wolfren at 4:15 AM ON 10/26/06
But they are working on tweaking it too work with visible light as well and hope to have the next test show progress in the way of a true cloak.
By AncientTarioth at 7:52 AM ON 10/26/06
Yes, and that will indeed be a much celebrated day, however, for now we must sadly wait. Though our hopes are quite high indeed, now with this recent breakthrough, that it will soon all become a reality.
By Morfedel at 9:30 AM ON 10/26/06
Woo hoo! My 15 seconds of fame, emailing a link to sci fi tech and getting mentioned in it!
Er... ok, I'm done now. Anyway, yeah, the article does mention that scientists do believe that light can be likewise effected in the near future.
Between this and the other "star trek-like" gadgets that are sprouting up, sci fi may indeed become a reality.
Now if they could just find a way to break that speed of light thinie....
By leeventers at 1:53 AM ON 10/27/06
Cloak of invisibility... that would be cool. It would be great, I'd like the invisibility cloak that Harry Potter uses to see what I'm not supposed to see. When space travel comes in, then I'd like my ship to be cloaked... wouldn't want any Romulans or Remans to find me. hehehe
By TheAtari260 at 6:34 PM ON 10/28/06
LoL...Nice, the Army actually has a prototype of a partial invisibility cloak. It blends into its surroundings better, and is adaptable.
Furthermore, according to Einstein, you can not break the speed of light for the simple fact that you will expand to be to large for the known universe...however, if we were to develop wormholes!!!
By grilledcheez at 10:27 PM ON 10/28/06
Actually, I've been researching stuff on the "breaking speed of light" for a research paper.
According to Jeanne Cavelos' The Science of Star Wars, possible methods for "Hyperspace" or "Warp" are:
1-Relies on a theory of what inertia is, then uses that to control the quantum fluctions that may cause it, we can eliminate intertia, and thus, eliminate mass, which would allow anything to travel the speed of light.
2-Wormholes, like you said (though we'd have to influence a massive gravitational field on space-time to cause it to create a wormhole, then use negative energy (Exotic Matter) to hold the wormhole open.
3-Warp drive - Expand space-time behind you & contract space-time infront of you. In this way you don't move, but space-time does (imagine 2 dots on an uninflated balloon spreading apart as you blow it up), and it's assumed that, based on the Big Bang Theory, space-time can expand MUCH more rapidly than the speed of light. (this method escapes the inertia problem of getting to the speed of light)
3-The possibility that the universe may have up to or beyond 10 dimentions, 6 of which we do not interact with because they didn't expand like space-time did with the big bang. If we could harness these potential extra dimensions, we could use them as "shortcuts" across the universe, much like a wormhole.
By Wolfie23 at 3:38 PM ON 05/12/07
This technology is too dangerous to be created in the real world instead it should be left up to the imagination of the world of fiction stories. Can you imagine the horror anyone can do with that kind of power. Murderers, rapists, and other such criminals would go undetected until it is too late. Crime would be worse than it is now if cloaking tech. were to fall into the wrong hands.
It's nice to theorize about but it's best to be left up to the stories. That's just what I think about it.
By freddog at 3:27 PM ON 11/05/09
I think it would be so cool if they were to make an invisblity cloak. I would want mine to keep people from hearing me aswell as seeing me
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I think it would be so cool if they were to make an invisblity cloak. I would want mine to keep people from hearing...More »