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Engineers Devise Invisibility Shield
GerritHoll points out an article in Nature according to which "researchers at the University of Pennsylvania 'say that a "plasmonic cover" could render objects "nearly invisible to an observer.' Earlier attempts at invisibility worked by colouring a screen to match its background, like a chameleon. The described technique is new, because it works by the concept of reducing light scattering. It is not a 'magic cloak,' however, because it will not work for the full range of visible light and needs to be adjusted precisely for the shape of the object. However, the concept could find an application in stealth technology."
What sort of armor class do you get with that?
Making something invisible is easy: all you have to do is generate a Somebody Else's Problem field of sufficient size.
(Seriously, am I the only one who looked at this, saw the word 'plasmonic', and thought "Fucking Slashdot editors, its *March 1st*, not *April 1st*"?)
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Mod me down, you fucking twits. Go ahead. I dare you.
(I read with sigs off.)
I didn't see that one coming.
... to let me sneak undetected into a ladies locker room, then we'll talk.
bash: rtfm: command not found
See, it hides my identity when I post on Slashdot!
...obstracle.
Obstracle = obstruction + obstacle?
This is awesome. Can I use this on my mother?
My Linux - (L)ove (I)s (N)ever (U)tterly eXPensive
From the article: "And crucially, the effect only works when the wavelength of the light being scattered is roughly the same size as the object. So shielding from visible light would be possible only for microscopic objects."
OK. So if I have this straight... "You see that thing you can't see because it's too small? Well we just made it invisible! Please send more grant funding. And a few burritos. We're like, totally hungry dude."
Uh huh....
I, for one, welcome our invisible robo-army overlords.
READY.
PRINT ""+-0
Here is the technique let yourself invisible, try it yourself: http://www.sciforums.com/showthread.php?p=439508
From the article:
...it would be more like the shielding used by the Romulans in the Star Trek episode "Balance of Terror" in 1966, which hid their spaceships at the push of a button.
...it's called a "cloaking device", you insensitive clod!
Really? Invisibility could be used for tasks requiring stealth? No way, that's crazy talk.
Why do surgeons need an invisibility cloak? To hide from malpractice lawsuits?
This article is like going to a movie after seeing the really great preview, and finding out that the really great preview contains every single really great moment in the movie.
It's made me invisible to women for 10 years now.
I wish I could turn it off.
I'm about five-eight, and deep-seated insecurity seems to hide me from most things. Does anyone else have similar experiences?
Dear horsebutt,
You have used the phrase "copying movies" in your Slashdot post #11810495, dated March 1st. We remind you that copying movies is a dangerous and illegal activity, which can have harmful effects ranging from misguided threats of legal action from MPAA legalbots to being made to sit through Gigli. Think of all the millions of Hollywood actors living on the streets and eating out of dumpsters because of your thoughtless, violent and evil crime.
Just a gentle reminder from,
your friend,
RIAA LegalBot[tm] #1024 "Jeff"
I won't believe this 'til I see it.
Move along...
This comment does not necessarily represent the views and opinions of the author.
the rubber-glue matrix. What use is an invisibility shield without a robust name calling defense system.
So in other words, for you to get a nice, new cloak of invisibility you'll need to be microscopic in size
Not a problem. If you'll just step right over here to this shrinkometer....
Tweet, tweet.
its amazing what scientists can do.
Absolutely... if we can just get our weapons' size down to a few microns, and get (Al Quaida|Ruskies|Iraq|Iran|North Korea|Massachusetts) to limit their surveillance techniques to the proper wavelength, then this will be really breakthrough technology!
the effect only works when the wavelength of the light being scattered is roughly the same size as the object
This would make it the perfect for those awkward moments when your nanobots are being attacked by lasers (mounted on sharks?)
The world has changed and we all have become metal men.
Now we can penetrate those pesky secure quantum communication links without a man in the middle attack! Simply by stealthifying the particles use use to determine the state of the information carrying particle.The information carier is unaware that it is being observed and its quantum packet doesn't collapse. Woot! Send me my nobel prize asap!
They whose government reduces their essential liberties for temporary security, receive neither liberty nor security.
Well, that's not a problem.
I have in my InfoCom game packaging an original sealed sachet which contains a "Microscopic Space Fleet".
I just wish I knew where the Peril Sensitive sunglasses went...
-- The universe began. Life started on a billion worlds...
-- Except on one where stupidity was there first.
I have thought about this few times(when feverish or some other way mentally challenged states) and decided that our technology isn't yet suitable to accomplish this.
Basically it's quite simpple - all you have to do is route every incoming photon around the object without changing it's course.
Fabric made of nano-fibres?
/* If everybody would be like me the world would be much better place to be - at least in my mind. */
I don't think these engineers devised any sort of "invisibility shield"
nah youre wrong, they require lance Armstrong to Louis Armstrong to function
Methinks you mean Angstrom...
Wonder Woman sued the University of Pennsylvania over Intellectual Property involving invisibility technology. No one on campus could be found for comment.
Why do engineers need to develop methods of invisibility? After all, most engineers are invisible to the female half of the population anyway.
If "disco" means "I learn" in Latin, does "discothèque" mean "I learn technology"?
Which is analogous to saying that if you can't see one molecule, you can't see a bunch of them together!
Hey wait a minute! We are invisible already!
The man of knowledge must be able not only to love his enemies but also to hate his friends.
It seems like they need to watch this again. (In searching for an appropriate link, I also stumbled upon a strange amalgamation of Monty Python and JRR Tolkein. It's bloody hilarious if you know both.)
Ben Hocking
Need a professional organizer?
My tin foil hat has been rendering me invisible for years. Right now I'm wearing it naked at work.
"Hi Bob, what are you looking at?"
All of this is meaningless until they discover how to create the Holocaust Cloak. What I wouldn't give for a Holocaust Cloak right about now.
I'm getting bored of the hype required to get any science/technology advances written up. It's not an invisibility cloak, you knew it before you wrote the article and I knew it before I read the article. Why does good science need to hide behind stupid banner headlines?
Also, (because I'm grumpy today), Chameleons do not change colour to blend with their background. FFS. See Wikipedia: Chameleon.
If only someone had invented a fusion reactor that ran on pure bullshit we'd all be rolling in it (so to speak).
"So how do you go about building one of these things?"
"Do you know how to build an empty box?"
"Derp de derp."
Come on, guys! I can't be the first to notice... Okay, I'll spell it out for you -- the correct first reaction to this story is:
(Have none of you kids ever heard of The Philadelphia Experiment ?)
David Gould
main(i){putchar(340056100>>(i-1)*5&31|!!(i<6)<< 6)&&main(++i);}
Could you imagine the stink it would create the first time someone says "Your Honor...its not my fault that I groped her, I didnt know where my hands were at the time because I couldnt see them!"