Invisibility not so far fetched. Sue Storm referenced. (article)

[Advanced Dark]

Scientist thinks invisibility possible in future By Patricia Reaney
13 minutes ago



LONDON (Reuters) - It's unlikely to occur by swallowing a pill or donning a special cloak, but invisibility could be possible in the not too distant future, according to research published on Monday.

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Harry Potter accomplished it with his magic cloak. H.G. Wells' Invisible Man swallowed a substance that made him transparent.

But Dr Ulf Leonhardt, a theoretical physicist at St Andrews University in Scotland, believes the most plausible example is the Invisible Woman, one of the Marvel Comics superheroes in the "Fantastic Four."

"She guides light around her using a force field in this cartoon. This is what could be done in practice," Leonhardt told Reuters in an interview. "That comes closest to what engineers will probably be able to do in the future."

Invisibility is an optical illusion that the object or person is not there. Leonhardt uses the example of water circling around a stone. The water flows in, swirls around the stone and then leaves as if nothing was there.

"If you replace the water with light then you would not see that there was something present because the light is guided around the person or object. You would see the light coming from the scenery behind as if there was nothing in front," he said.

In the research published in the New Journal of Physics, Leonhardt described the physics of theoretical devices that could create invisibility. It is a follow-up paper to an earlier study published in the journal Science.

"What the Invisible Woman does is curve space around herself to bend light. What these devices would do is to mimic that curved space," he said.

Although the devices are still theoretical, Leonhardt said scientists are making advances in metamaterials -- artificial materials with unusual properties that could be used to make invisibility devices.

"There are advances being made in metamaterials that mean the first devices will probably be used for bending radar waves or the electromagnetic waves used by mobile phones," he said.

The devices could be used as protection mechanisms so the radiation emitted from mobile phones does not penetrate electronic equipment. It is guided around it.

"It is very likely that the demonstration for radar would come first and very soon. To go into the visual will take some time but it is also not so far off," Leonhardt said.

Cool stuff.

 

[Morg]

Nice, but wrong forum

 

[Advanced Dark]

Not if people don't want to be spoiled about how she turns invisible.

 

[gerbstat]

 

[MattC]

Really interesting article, thanks AD!

 

[Advanced Dark]

I would not be at all surprised if DOD/DARPA have not already successfully developed this as a second generation aircraft stealth technology. They alluded to this type of research at least five years ago. Given the fact that many of these breakthroughs remain in the black for many years after they are developed and deployed, I wouldn't doubt its being used today.

Cases in point - our favorite air transport, the X-Men's "Blackbird". The actual SR-71 was in design in 1959, but never publicly acknowledged until 1964. The F117 stealth fighter was in production in 1981, and not acknowledged to exist until 1988.

Who knows WHAT they are actually testing today?

When I was about 10 years old (in the 70's) I was on an airplane flight to Florida. I was up at the front across from where the stewardess fold down chairs were and had a load of leg room. Some militar guy walked up to me and asked if me and my sister would switch chairs with him. I said ok and he asked for my address so he could send me something. A few weeks later I received a package of large color photo's of the newest Blackbird plane and he asked me to not show it to anyone. How funny is that. It was real too.

 

[gerbstat]

 

[Fantastic-Boy]

Great!

 

[gambitfire]

Sweet!

 

[MangleBoP]

Why do your posts in this thread all appear as red "X" s?

 

[Advanced Dark]

 

[MangleBoP]

LOL, hey, can I use that as an avvy?

 

[Advanced Dark]

Of course. I didn't make it. Fee free.

 

[MangleBoP]

Sweet! But I can't get it to work right...

 

[SNB]

Cool stuff.

Theoretically...ok. In practice, even the water example is flawed.

Notice that AFTER the water passes around the stone it has been disturbed in such a way that the flow downstream is very different from waht it would have been in the absence of the stone. You can easily observe the vortices in the wake of the stone with your naked eyes and notice that they travel downstream with the water current and take a long, long, distance to die out.

So, in case they manage to bend the light with a force field it is likely that the effect will not be perfect, and you would SEE some sort of blurred air, as if the backscenery was disturbed somehow. Samething like when you look through hot air. It would be a tell-tale sign of the "invisible" person. Maybe like the visual effect of the PREDATOR camouflage suit.

Anyway, still it would be advantageous for some military/police applications in some environments and situations.

What do you think?

Sergio.
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[gerbstat]

Theoretically...ok. In practice, even the water example is flawed.

Notice that AFTER the water passes around the stone it has been disturbed in such a way that the flow downstream is very different from waht it would have been in the absence of the stone. You can easily observe the vortices in the wake of the stone with your naked eyes and notice that they travel downstream with the water current and take a long, long, distance to die out.

So, in case they manage to bend the light with a force field it is likely that the effect will not be perfect, and you would SEE some sort of blurred air, as if the backscenery was disturbed somehow. Samething like when you look through hot air. It would be a tell-tale sign of the "invisible" person. Maybe like the visual effect of the PREDATOR camouflage suit.

Anyway, still it would be advantageous for some military/police applications in some environments and situations.

What do you think?

Sergio.
-------

I read recently (in Popular Science) that such a "blurring" effect might happen. The technology involves materials that conduct the light around an object, rather than a force field. So far, it's worked with microwaves but not visible light (yet). One of the problems is that these engineered materials are limited to one specific wavelength.

 

[millennium movies]

Why dont these damn scientist spend their time and money on actual stuff that matters? Kinda like curing the diseases and such. I find it so irritating everytime i see something in the media about some dumb research that's useless and benefits no one. Then they have the guts to say they need more money from the goverments because they dont have a big enough income/budget. I wonder where it went...

 

[MOIDANGEREUX]

Saw this on the news!

 

[Ultimate Movie-Man]

Invisibilty would be cool.

Oh course, I would have to be quiet when in the girl's change rooms