Hate to say it, but we're beyond the
point of hope here. We just won't ever, ever see a real-deal
invisibility cloak during our relatively brief stint on Earth. That said, researchers at Purdue University are doing their best to prove us wrong, recently developing a new approach to cloaking that is supposedly "simple to manufacture." Unlike traditional invisibility cloaks, which rely on exotic metamaterials that demand complex nanofabrication, this version utilizes a far simpler design based on a tapered optical waveguide. A report from the institution asserts that the team was able to "cloak an area 100 times larger than the wavelengths of light shined by a laser into the device," but for obvious reasons, it's impossible to actually show us it happened. Regardless, for the sake of the kiddos above, we're hoping this stuff gets commercialized, and soon.
[Via
Digg, Image courtesy of
Thomas Ricker (yes,
that Thomas Ricker)]
posted May 22nd 2009 9:21AM
Really?
Cats have been using invisible cloaks for many many years to disguise items...
http://icanhascheezburger.files.wordpress.com/2007/05/invisible-motocross_resized.jpg
http://www.saynotocrack.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/invisible-measuring-tape.jpg
http://mentalfloss.cachefly.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/04/invisible_bike_crash_410.jpg
love the cat images, makes me glad I re-read an old article from new scientist
Cat images FTW.
Nice.
I'm loving that picture! ROFL
For those who are wondering... the photo is mine. Just part of the delicious absurdity that surrounds the life of a senior editor here at Engadget.
Thomas
I actually find that image quite disturbing. The kids I mean, the lolcats are lol.
I invented an invisibility cloak that works perfectly. I can't for the life of me find it...
I had this same problem. I asked my pastor what I should do to find it. He suggested I pray and recite the ten commandments and the location will reveal itself devinely.
I did what my pastor said. Sure enough, when I got the "though shall not commit adultary" I remembered where I left my cloak.
I don't care about this story at all, but that picture is awesome.
THIS IS STUPID...
The best invisibility device is a foldaway cardboard box with the words "trash" on the side.
Or even better:
Meatabix
Dog Food
Alternatively, if you are a dastardly penguin, wearing a red glove on your head will cause innocent victims to mistake you for a chicken.
A bit like this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5O-RB9a4Wok
I've invented a great cloaking device, but can someone help me invent a cloaking device for the giant lens and mirror system that it uses?
That's the problem nowadays.
You're surrounded by miracles, and the only one that matters is the one we DON'T have.
Lol @ the picture. About the cloak - would like to see visual presentation of it.
It's easy to be invisible. Become homeless. People won't be able to see you at all.
Everyone knows a Paladin can't wear a cloak of invisibility.
Instead of trying to make myself invisible, I've decided to make everyone else blind.
Boiler Up! (I'm a Sophomore @ Purdue)
If they are capable of doing this with visible light, I wonder how large of a stretch it would be to accomplish the same feat with Infrared or Ultraviolet...
https://engineering.purdue.edu/ECE/People/profile?resource_id=3322
^There's the man that did it.
Everybody loves football!.
This picture is very disturbing... poor kids... those of you laughing must not be parents or are gay
I was totally unaware we gay people laughed at the misfortune of small children. It is still hella funny though :)
That picture is awesome... if I didn't get bullied as a kid I would be no where near as talented of an iBully / eThug / Internet Toughguy as I am today :p
If the picture was of an employee getting mad at stupid bosses, that would be funny.
lol where do you even that picture Darren Murph?
Best... Engadget Picture... Ever...
"Purdue researchers concoct new invisibility cloak, plan Walmart debut"
Because God knows, if anyone doesn't want to be seen, it's when they're shopping at Walmart.
SWISH!!!!
have to be a harry potter fan, hmm?
that is pretty cool...looking forward to seeing stuff like that actually come out in the near future...but WTF is up with that picture???
There is something inherently ridiculous about the phrase "unlike traditional invisibility cloaks."
You mean, like the my parents' invisibility cloaks? Or my great-grandfather's? 'Cause those are pretty different.
Or do you mean "average, everyday, run-of-the-mill invisibility cloaks"? The kind by the register at 7-11.
You really need to be more specific.
Fraking Engadget comments!!!!! I clicked Add Comment on this one, and it didn't show. I refreshed the page 10 times and it didn't show. I waited 30 minutes and it didn't show. I cleared my browser cache and it didn't show. I [shift] + refreshed and it didn't show.
But I retype the damned comment and click submit, and what do you know, there's the original!
Your comment system is seriously fucky, Engadget.
So despite the fact that 30 other people were able to successfully leave a comment, you've come to the conclusion that it isn't you or your computer that's defective, but the entire system.
Your logic is seriously fucky, Jake.
Actually, I've had the same thing happen to me even after clearing my browser's cache and refreshing. sometimes it just takes a while...
Doesn't anyone on hear know about meta materials? Cloaking is on the way.
There is something inherently ridiculous about the phrase "unlike traditional invisibility cloaks."
You mean like my parents' invisibility cloaks? Or like my great-grandfather's? Because those are different.
Or do you mean "traditional" like "average, everyday, run-of-the-mill" invisibility cloaks? Like the ones by the cash register at 7-11.
You really need to be more specific.
Invisibility cloaks are good for pooing in public. I saw this guy pooing in an alleyway as a I came out of a gas station, and I felt sorry for him, that I saw him with his dangling caacaa.
As far as this particular invention? 50 microns is pretty small, wasn't there one about a Japanese (tokyo u) one that was a real cloak that was human sized? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKPVQal851U&feature=related
They said it doesn't use exotic materials (2 layers of gold and microlens), but it isn't cloaking much....
That's just a trick. It even says it uses "specifc fabric and a projector" to create "quasi-invisivility".
The material seems to be similar to that of a projection screen. A camera takes video of the background, which is projected onto the "cloak" or the other "invisible" objects in the video. If they were truly invisible, the ball and brick should show the guy's face instead of the background.
It's the whole Engadget editorial staff, all in one cage! We now see the genesis of all your snarkiness, misdirected at the consumer electronics industry. You're all just desperately waiting for someone to invent the gadget that will let you clandestinely emerge from behind those bars so you can teach the bully a lesson, without having to risk anything.
All those kids behind bars are just critics-to-be.
How not to be seen:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zekiZYSVdeQ
look at those suckers in that fucking cage!!!!!!!!!!
tomo
Man, dodge ball sure has changed since I was a kid.
.