"Cone of Silence" Possible Say Scientists

Ponca City, We Love You writes "The 'Cone of Silence,' once a staple of 1960's television shows, is now possible say scientists at Duke University who first demonstrated a working 'cloak of invisibility' that works at microwave frequencies in 2006. Such a cloak designed for audio frequencies might hide submarines in the ocean from detection by sonar or improve the acoustics of a concert hall by effectively flattening a structural beam. Although the theory used to design such acoustic devices so far isn't as general as the one used to devise the microwave cloak, the finding nonetheless paves the way for other acoustic devices. 'We've now shown that both 2-D and 3-D acoustic cloaks theoretically do exist,' says Researcher Steven Cummer. 'It opens up the door to make the physical shape of an object different from its acoustic shape.'"

Comments

Max vs. the Chief

[pipingguy]

Max: What?
Chief: What?
Max: What?
Chief: What?

I've always wanted to build one of those, I even have a sketch, bill of materials, etc.

Re:Max vs. the Chief

[LordEd]

I even have a sketch, bill of materials, etc.

I find that hard to believe

Would you believe a set of notes and a written shopping list?

Not really

How about a picture drawn with crayons?

The invisible cone

[Anonymous Coward]

Here is an image to explain it all:
http://icanhascheezburger.com/2008/01/12/funny-pictures-invisible-ice-cream-cone/

Re:The invisible cone

[myth_of_sisyphus]

That reminds me of trying to explain "I can has cheezburger" to my hairstylist.

While cutting my hair one day, she mentioned she loved taking pictures of her cats.

I said "You should check out this new craze. It's called "I can has cheezburger" and you take a picture of a cat doing something, and then you put a caption on it that is clever, then you post it on the internet."

She says "I already go to a site and upload my cat pictures."

I say "Well, it's not really cat pictures. It kind of 'transcends' cat pictures and becomes something else. Kind of a "meta-cat picture".

She says "....uhhhh...what?..."

I say "I can't really explain it, you kind of have to see it. Go to this website: 'I...can...has...cheezburger... spelled with a z and no 'e'"

She says "....uhhhh...what?...."

I say "I'll write it down...the site is named after the first cat picture called "I can has cheezburger". Now that cheezburger cat is famous in his own right. He's called 'Happycat'."

She says "the pictures are of cats eating cheeseburgers?"

I say "No, just captioned cheezburger."

She says "Ok"

She now thinks I'm completely insane and is silent for the rest of the haircut.

"Cone of Nonsense" Possible Says Teckla

[Teckla]

Researchers at the Teckla Institute for Scientific Advancement have determined that it's possible to have a "Cone of Nonsense" that remains stable for months, even years.

"Take, for example, the Cone of Nonsense generated at Slashdot, an online site dedicated to News for Nerds," says Dr. Teckla, a long-time scientist at the Institute. "We've identified at least two powerful Cone of Nonsense forces there, which we've named the 'Roland Piquepaille Effect' and the 'Ponca City, We Love You Force'."

Combine these potent forces with 'ScuttleMonkey Energy', and the result is a stable, if frightening, Cone of Nonsense.

"We're not sure what happens if you enter this Cone of Nonsense," commented Dr. Teckla, "But we're pretty sure it drops your I.Q. by 50 points.

Re:Light on details...

[pwrtool 45]

materials that seemingly don't exist yet?

I can see the conversation now...

Max: Actually they already exist.
Guy: No, it doesn't.
Max: Would you believe that they're inventing them tomorrow?
Guy: No, they aren't.
Max: Would you believe a pope hat covered with pillows we *call* the cone of silence?
Agent 99: *Kicks guy's ass*

bad news for bats

[Anonymous Coward]

"It opens up the door to make the physical shape of an object different from its acoustic shape."

Already using one

[Whiteox]

Every time my wife asks me to do something, I don't hear it.
Every time I ask her to do something, she doesn't hear me.

Re:Light on details...

[tomhath]

The details on how they do it are in the audio portion of the article. What? You didn't hear the audio? What?

Re:When is acoustic shape same as physical anyway?

[neapolitan]

I had a girlfriend once whose physical shape was AWESOME, but her acoustic shape was terrible. Believe me, you don't ever want to be in that situation. Now, the ones that are nearly spherical are easily identified from a distance, and I tend to stay away from them.