Making yourself invisible: could it leap from fiction to fact?

[T_i_B]

I'm suprised this story took so long to make it to the UK Independent!

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/article994603.ece

Whether we're inspired by the The Invisible Man or the more recent Harry Potter series, the ability to vanish at will is something that most of us would love to possess. Not only could we duck out of embarrassing situations, but we could spy on our friends and enemies - or even sit in on conversations between Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. Not to mention the nefarious uses to which an invisibility cloak could be put, such as shoplifting and robbing banks.

Until now, such ideas were the preserve of fantasy fiction, movies and daydreams. But according to scientists, writing in the 25 May edition of the journal Science, an invisibility cloak is not only possible, but early versions, that would mask microwaves and other forms of electromagnetic radiation, could be as close as 18 months away.

One of the authors of the paper, Professor Sir John Pendry, a physicist at Imperial College London, stresses that he and his fellow-researchers just need to perfect the manufacture of new materials - called "metamaterials" - that have the ability to steer light and other electromagnetic radiation around an object. "It's theoretically possible to do all of these Harry Potter things," he says. "But what's standing in the way is our engineering capabilities."

Metamaterials can be tuned to bend electromagnetic radiation (radio waves and visible light, in particular) in any direction. A cloak made of these materials would neither reflect light nor cast a shadow. Instead, light and other forms of electromagnetic radiation would hit the cloak and simply flow around it.

[eppur_se_muova]

1. Interesting ... a different approach to invisibility was publicized awhile

back: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=228&topic_id=20151&mesg_id=20151

(There's also another thread, but can't remember what forum it was posted in.)