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Thread: Scientists Say that Invisibility is Possible

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    Default Scientists Say that Invisibility is Possible

    (CNN) -- Invisibility has long been a fantastical ability exclusively enjoyed by teenage wizards, super heroes and the ultra-advanced civilisations of science fiction.

    But more pragmatic-minded scientists and engineers now believe that invisibility-enabling technology may be within reach of lesser mortals as well.

    The key to that possibility is the development of increasingly complex metamaterials -- manmade composites engineered on a nano scale with properties entirely different to anything found in nature.

    Doctor Ulf Leonhardt, a physicist at Scotland's St. Andrews University who has recently published two papers on the theory behind invisibility technology, said the key was developing a transparent material capable of bending light around an object concealed behind it.

    "What you want to do is to surround yourself with a transparent material that is not only transparent but bends the light around you," Leonhardt told CNN.

    Leonhardt said the underlying principle was inspired by natural phenomena when light is bent to create optical illusions such as the refraction of a spoon in water or a mirage in the desert or on hot tarmac.

    "There are many examples of ways a transparent material like water glass or air can bend light," said Leonhardt. "The reason that is possible is because light will always take the shortest route, which is not always a straight line. All you need is a transparent material that bends light around an object like water moving around a stone."

    Work on metamaterials that could ultimately make invisibility a reality is already underway at Duke University in the U.S., where a team led by Professor David R. Smith is experimenting with the design of materials to shield objects from other electromagnetic waves such as microwaves.

    Leonhardt said that once that technology had been developed it would merely need to be replicated on a smaller scale to work for light waves as well.

    "The essential idea is that all you have to do is make things smaller. Visible light has a significantly smaller wavelength than microwaves or radio waves but you could take the same building blocks and make them very small. Thanks to nanotechnology there is a chance that can be done."

    One problem that engineers would face would be in creating a metamaterial covering the full range of the optical spectrum rather than a single color or light frequency. Currently researchers are only working on developing materials with the ability to channel waves of a specific frequency.

    But Leonhardt said he believed the issue was surmountable: "There will be advances on both the technological and theoretical sides which will make invisibility happen in the not too distant future. This is not completely beyond the range of present technology and theoretical ideas."

    While there may ultimately be practical, ethical and security considerations to be considered for invisibility technology, initial applications are likely to focus on microwave shielding, protecting electrical devices from electromagnetic interference, and applications to enable more effective wireless communications, Leonhardt said.

    "What these new ideas give you is a new set of tools to guide microwave radiation in a controlled and precisely adjusted way. Generally anything connected with wireless technology would benefit from these new design ideas."

    Ironically, the method by which invisibility might be achieved is not dissimilar to the way in which one comic book hero already achieves her special powers. The Invisible Woman, one of Marvel's "Fantastic Four," hides behind a forcefield which guides light around her.

    "This really is the underlying principle of these devices. You mimic with a material an effect that would occur with a field like a curved space," said Leonhardt. "That's the closest example to what people could perhaps do with modern technology."

    But the Invisible Woman and Harry Potter, armed with his invisibility cloak, may still have an advantage over anything technology is capable of. In the real world, anything or anyone concealed from view would also be trapped in darkness.

    "You would see black, of course ," said Leonhardt. "You are completely cut off from light as it is guided around you -- so you wouldn't see anything."



    What would YOU do if YOU were invisible?



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    ive read something like this before. in populare science magizine -.- yes imma a science nerd =] although it said it woudent me to much as use after the world learned about since u can wear "light relfecting materials that appear as no1 is there" but a tank will still leave treads and a human footprints. so a "futurstic soldier" may see footprints just appearing out of nowhere and it will spook him but he wil learn to just aim his rifle/laster or w/e the hell mankind makes to destroy themselves -.- at it and shoot. so yea it would be cool, but how functional it is.. i dont really know
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    right now they actually have things like cars that are invisable to the not visable part of the light spectrum. the problem is that there are so many types of light that is is pretty hard to make a material that will be invisable to all of them. ya im a science nut too. popular science mag is where i learned about it.

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    I'm a science nut . Well atleast, I take time out and read some random stuff about science & the news, and stuff like that, Yeah.

    The big problem is you wouldn't be able to see =O and I don't think they would EVER use invisibility for war or anything other than educational means because if anybody but scientists found out how to make this, the world would be devistated by terrorists/enemy nations.

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    yea if u were invisible.. ud be trapped in darkness. and ive seen things like the invisible cars on the science channel whre u could like see through it but it wasent actually invisible.. so ya well just have to wait and see. have u seen that show on the science channel called 2057
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    Who cares if u were in blackness, if you could still here, this would be a perfect hiding mechanism, camoflauge, for US soldiers in iraq.

    hakuna matata ;)

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    what whould soldeirs hide from in iraq... shit were like babysitters there now. all we do is patroll around checking cars and ppl and getting blown up occasionally...
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    lol yah if you scared of the dark bring a flashlight and like in movies...liek predator...i guess the use the concept of "bending light" and when they go invisible...its like this clear blob thing moving around...so you proably wouldn't Truely be invisible...because the light that is dent would be distorted and u woud notice....thats my theory anyway
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    wow, but not that fascinating..

    I am always invisible, I become visible only when u look at me
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    if i were invisible i would run around naked

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    Quote Originally Posted by drags111 View Post
    if i were invisible i would run around naked...in the girls locker room
    there i fixed your quote for you

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    Yea I saw this on the Discovery channel. Its pretty awesome and could potentially be very useful. Imagine at night how beneficial it would be! Even if it is not complete invisibility camouflage to this extreme would be unreal!
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    I think that invisibility won't be that great, especially since you cannot see anything lol. But if you could see when you were invisible, it would be pretty cool running around doing shit to people.

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    why wouldnt you be able to see??
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    Quote Originally Posted by takeNout View Post
    I think that invisibility won't be that great, especially since you cannot see anything lol. But if you could see when you were invisible, it would be pretty cool running around doing shit to people.
    Lmao.. You can see, you don't physically disappear.. Its an optical illusion.
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    It would be cool to be invisible but imagine if everyone was aswell?

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    Invisibility... I dunno, to me it sounds like a crazy idea. I just hope it will never happen or the world will be torn into a war where everyone is invisible; childish governments never stop at doing this kind of unlogical and inhumane crap.

    Anyways, if I could be invisible, I'd go arround getting hit by cars that don't see me . Or maybe go into a store and get free stuff?

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    Quote Originally Posted by botmaster View Post
    Anyways, if I could be invisible, I'd go arround getting hit by cars that don't see me .
    But you wouldn't be able to see the cars...they'd all be invisible...
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    the technology kinda seems pointless? just a simple thermal vision would solve it

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    Quote Originally Posted by me_ntal View Post
    the technology kinda seems pointless? just a simple thermal vision would solve it
    what if the technology surpassed that too....
    no detection whatsoever....

    the world shall witness true invisibility!

    (then again... how can the world "see" invisibility technology that has gone that far)

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    Well the thermal there could be cooling things on it. Those would lower the temperature according to the outside temperature.

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    Its kinda dangerous though. Imagine if you went into a war-zone with your uber-cloaking device and you get caught in the crossfire. Your friend tries shooting at enemies but can't see you so accidently his bullets hit you!

    That would kinda defy the point of having it.

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    read "The Invisible Man" by H.G Wells....

    Accept that the waters around you have grown.

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    Invisibility seems kinda pointless , i mean , if everyone was invisible , or could make them selves invisible , it wouldnt be good.

    Quote Originally Posted by me_ntal
    the technology kinda seems pointless? just a simple thermal vision would solve it
    what if the technology surpassed that too....
    no detection whatsoever....
    The only way to surpass thermal vision is to make the human body not generate heat , i doubt thats possible.

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    Quote Originally Posted by botmaster View Post
    Its kinda dangerous though. Imagine if you went into a war-zone with your uber-cloaking device and you get caught in the crossfire. Your friend tries shooting at enemies but can't see you so accidently his bullets hit you!

    That would kinda defy the point of having it.
    well then why would you use it in the middle of the battlefield in the first place...
    the rules of warfare never stated that you had to attack from the middle...
    (then again, there are no rules when war starts so that proves my point...i think)

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