Researchers create light bending material for invisibility cloak

We're only at the nano scale folks so you'll have to keep those high school fantasies of an invisibility-cloaked romp through the girls' locker room tucked away for now. Still, two teams of US government funded researchers under the direction of Xian Zhanga at UC Berkeley say that they've developed a material which can bend visible light around 3D objects, effectively making them disappear. While similar to the negative refractive properties of materials developed back in 2006, UCB's so-called meta-material is easier to work with and absorbs far less light than those earlier products. As such, the material could scale to the size of invisibility cloaks to hide objects such as tanks or mischievous boy-wizards. However, that day is a long ways off. In the short term, the meta-material will most likely find use in the far less interesting (to consumers, anyway) application of building better microscopes. Hey, Xian, picture of your invisible material or it didn't happen... oh, wait.

[Via BBC News]

[Ivan @ Aug 11th 2008 5:38AM]

Is that the Insurgency mod?

[Fadakar @ Aug 11th 2008 5:53PM]

Yeah it is...I was in the beta for that(can't stand the full release, don't know why), and that was the only map me and the other guys played on, my favorite spot....but I digress...

I bet you the target demographic is going to be single middle aged men who live with their parents.

[OneLove @ Aug 11th 2008 10:12AM]

Great, give it to the troops for some metal gear solid action.

[derX @ Aug 11th 2008 5:48AM]

Yeah, I'm probably going to regret saying this, but w/e =D

Why is it that anything that aides the military always seem to take away--or at least very easily conceivably so-- from civil liberties, e.g., privacy? Dammit, I thought the Patriot Act was a bitch...

[zomg0t @ Aug 11th 2008 6:11AM]

Calm down... you may not like the how it makes invasion of privacy easier, but I think the US government has enough self-control to only use such technology when necessary and not on average non-terrorist internet browsers like (I hope) ourselves. A lot of great technology has come from military research. I'd like to thank the military for making this comment possible through the creation of ARPAnet.

[crispy @ Aug 11th 2008 8:24AM]

This is more to zomg0t, but you really think the government has self control when it comes to using new technology in the military? Really? Look up all the CIA experiments against U.S. citizens. Look up the new story of ATF agents using powers from the Patriot Act secretly bugged a thug's house. These powers were supposed to be used against terrorist, not against Ray Ray and his kilo of cocaine which was probably bought in South America from the CIA in the first place.

[maveric101 @ Aug 11th 2008 10:31AM]

what, do you think the CIA is going to send field agents with invisibility cloaks to watch you sleep? when this is usable, it will at first only be used in military applications.

and the Patriot Act? seriously, the US government isn't going to tap your phone line, they're not going to read your mail, and their not going to watch your internet traffic. they really don't care if you like gay black midget porn. if you're not a really bad person, you have nothing to worry about.

[jroc @ Aug 11th 2008 11:28AM]

You're absolutely correct. And you should be alarmed over the patriot act, the john warner defense authorization act, the military commissions act etc. That is what a true American is. They care about freedom and liberty and you should never give up your liberty for security because you end up losing both. I cannot believe these people on the message boards saying "don't worry about the Patriot act they don't care about spying on you. What about in Britain with all the cameras? Of course the government wiretaps citizens phones - that is even in public memos. So if the 'terrorists' actually hate us for our freedom our government is going to take away all of our freedom? Something doesn't make sense. I am glad there are people mad as hell about this - they should be! These same people in Nazi Germany would be the same way with the enabling act "don't worry they don't want to spy on you" ... yeah right.

"If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy." -James Madison

[Bunson @ Aug 11th 2008 1:50PM]

Before you open your mouth I recommend you do some research.

[Zach @ Aug 11th 2008 10:08PM]

“Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both”

Benjamin Franklin

[collegekid13 @ Aug 11th 2008 5:52AM]

surprise parties will never be the same

[Das Boot @ Aug 11th 2008 7:58AM]

what about surprise "pants" parties? they'll continue being the same, unless you can cloak your pants. I should start wearing underwear.

[E71 @ Aug 11th 2008 1:30PM]

What's the ETA on this?

I should definitely have enough time to cut a whole in a stool for my face and sit under it face up in a bar on ladies night.

Let the good times roll!

[who?d @ Aug 11th 2008 4:36PM]

The next iPods will be invisible (Microsoft could do it to the Zune, but nobody would really notice the difference)!

[Kurian @ Aug 11th 2008 6:02AM]

WTF HAX!

[Dr Zoidberg @ Aug 11th 2008 6:27AM]

Yes, because no one would find it strange to see a sniper rifle floating.

[/sarcasm]

[E71 @ Aug 11th 2008 1:31PM]

Have all your comments been sarcastic until now?!

[Earl Jr. @ Aug 12th 2008 1:49AM]

no, he just forgot the starting tag, which is why you can see the original code.

[Dean @ Aug 11th 2008 6:50AM]

oh man, what I would do with that.....

[Mossman @ Aug 11th 2008 7:03AM]

mischievous boy-wizards FTW!!!

[rita hainsworth @ Aug 11th 2008 7:04AM]

I've been hiding my true feelings from my boyfriends for years...hiding myself is just the next step.

[Rik @ Aug 11th 2008 7:06AM]

And I thought white was difficult to keep clean...

[The Warden @ Aug 11th 2008 7:22AM]

This application would be great if one can make one's farts invisible.

[Bob @ Aug 11th 2008 8:32AM]

Not unless the "InvisiFart" can cloak the smell, too...

[OneLove @ Aug 11th 2008 10:13AM]

...and silly comments. :)

[Farris @ Aug 11th 2008 2:17PM]

Warden, I think you have a major problem if your farts are actually visible...

[neofolklore @ Aug 11th 2008 7:37AM]

Counter terrorists win!

[Graham @ Aug 11th 2008 7:56AM]

Next thing you know we will have "USB Powered invisibility cloaks" appearing all over Chinese websites.

[Technex @ Aug 11th 2008 11:51AM]

Oh snap, sorry Jimmy didn't mean to pull out that cable. Ohh... I see what you did there, you're in trouble now Jimmy....

[Mischa @ Aug 11th 2008 8:07AM]

Gawk! This is the coolest thing! I realise that it's not quite at any level useful to the public, but if it ever is... We are in for one heck of a ride, my friends.

[L3375archasm @ Aug 11th 2008 8:49AM]

All this nano tech is very cool..until the Gov't slips them in my puddin', and I am used as a elite killing machine less my insides are dissolved by tiny machines at some bureaucratic douches will. Terminators seem cuddly compared to that nightmare.

[Phonixfire @ Aug 11th 2008 9:19AM]

No doubt this'll be nicked by the military and not available to any of us... *Sigh*

Plus, won't an invisible tank be a little useless? I mean... They're still audible, and there's bound to be some noticeable distortion... (although there're still years to go before that...)

[Tomaz @ Aug 11th 2008 9:36AM]

Where ? I can't see it?

[JeffinLA @ Aug 11th 2008 10:23AM]

I hope they make sure this does not fall into the hands of the Romulans!

[maveric101 @ Aug 11th 2008 10:35AM]

not when you're talking about planes or choppers flying overhead, or people who are farther away. obviously you would notice something if the tank was 3 ft away, but this would be useful at longer range.

[Andir3.0 @ Aug 11th 2008 11:10AM]

Unless you were military and using infrared or thermal vision...

[Wwhat @ Aug 11th 2008 1:15PM]

Or drove your tank in a dusty not recently vacuumed place.

[Jason @ Aug 11th 2008 10:42AM]

Researchers report difficulty making guns from the material, but it does lend itself well in the production of bongs. Further details still unavailable.

[B3astofthe3ast @ Aug 11th 2008 12:25PM]

WooHoo! Now the cops cant find and smash my piece whenever I'm tryin to relax!

[Matt @ Aug 11th 2008 10:51AM]

This would totally be awesome for Surprise Buttsecks!

[rita hainsworth @ Aug 11th 2008 11:05AM]

I've been using this on my space ship for years....keep moving, nothing to see here.

[Phil @ Aug 11th 2008 2:23PM]

If you have nothing to hide, then you have no reason to worry about so called invasions of privacy. Any technological advancement is amazing, especially findings such as this. We should be proud to be humans when we read of such findings, and think of all the lives it could save on the battlefield being able to hide from sight. Accompanied by non-lethal weapons, this sort of material could dominate a battlefield and result in much fewer casualties.

[Farris @ Aug 11th 2008 3:04PM]

"We should be proud to be humans when we read of such findings, and think of all the lives it could save on the battlefield being able to hide from sight."


Should we be proud that as a species we are able to save soldier's lives by coming up with amazing inventions like this, or should we be ashamed that we have to come up with inventions like this because we continue to HAVE battlefields?

[Bunson @ Aug 11th 2008 1:51PM]

1337

[J Who @ Aug 11th 2008 3:53PM]

*kids of the future*

MOM, have you seen my invisible cloak anywhere? I can't seem to find it!!!

[J Who @ Aug 11th 2008 3:56PM]

I can hear my future children now... "Dad, have you seen my invisible cloak? I can't seem to find it!".

[Nate DiDonato @ Aug 11th 2008 6:03PM]

Keep your mouth shut, don't do anything stupid and have a ridiculous criminal record, and the government won't waste their money keeping tabs on you. It ain't cheap.

Yes, it's that simple.

For all of you complainers, ok, here's a sample scenario: someone is suspected of making assloads of child porn in their house, but there's no solid evidence. What powers would you let your government have to bust this sicko?

There's the double-edged blade. The government COULD use the same powers on you, but that's the price you're paying for what you otherwise know as "freedom".

Don't like it? Think everything has to be in YOUR favor? Well, you could go start your own government. Go buy some island and do it.

[futurebird @ Aug 12th 2008 12:59AM]

"We're only at the nano scale folks so you'll have to keep those high school fantasies of an invisibility-cloaked romp through the girls' locker room tucked away for now. "

It would be so cool if people could just... pretend that straight women (and gay men?) read this blog. Just sayin'

[Fruition @ Aug 12th 2008 5:06AM]

Blasphemy! That violates one of the rules of the Internet! There are no women!

[Yianni Garcia @ Aug 12th 2008 5:23PM]

CNN has the first invisibility cloak t-shirt http://www.cnn.com/tshirt/index.html?hash=b2a2d030a658fba73674f098063c41a4&fhash=undefined&session_id=&return_uri=http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/08/11/invisibility.cloak.ap/index.html&headline=Scientists%20closer%20to%20making%20invisibility%20cloak&date=1218459965000