“For thousands of years people have worn shimmering silk to stand out in a crowd. Within the next few years people could wear silk to become invisible in a a crowd.
For the first time ever, scientists have created an invisibility cloak made from silk, and coated in gold.
The new metamaterial, as invisibility cloaks and their kin are technically called, only works on relatively long terahertz waves (a region of the electromagnetic spectrum between radio and infrared light), but the Boston-area scientists who developed the technology think that silk could work as an invisibility cloak at much smaller wavelengths, even in the visible range.
The research could lead to a wide range of optically unique materials for use in biomedicine or defense.
“This is an unusual angle for a metamaterial because of silk’s ability to interface with the human body,” something that no other metamaterial is currently capable of, said Fiorenzo Omenetto, a scientist at Tufts University who, along with colleagues at Boston University, helped develop the silk-based metamaterial and detail their new research in the journal Advanced Materials.
“On the sensing side it gives you a platform that is very adaptable.”"
Read more at Discovery News (Thanks Steve)
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OMG no fluffing way. Just think in a couple of years we will have to make use of technology to find each other. I mean if we can’t see ourselves and our friends can’t see us. Soo many possibilities
Will have to start checking out for alien bodies in the room before getting changed…..
My gosh! i want one of these!!!!
Can they invent invisible money to buy it. Your average Joe would never have a cats chance of ever obtaining something that technologically advanced. It’s not just about being invisible either, you can still be detected through sound and smell (pardon me, no pun intended). I can just picture it now. An FBI agent gets de-briefed before his mission, which involves using the cloak, and his boss says, ‘Whatever you do, DON’T EAT BEANS!’ Has Derren put in a pre-order for one yet?
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
So no visible light invisibility yet, but I bet that silk plated in gold is gonna cause a riot in female-land
i can’t see it myself
The world of Harry Potter is slowly becoming reality.
Flying brooms next? Perhaps a tree with a rather bad temper?
couldn’t they just do what they did on G I Joe? Get a suit, like a full hoodie type thing, build microscopic cameras and then put them all over the suit. Then photograph everything behind you and put it in front, personally i think that was an immense idea
Soo, we have trainers that let you walk on walls, invisibility cloaks, and doo-dads you stick on your scalp to make your brain work better; Balls to office work, I’m going to be a super hero…