Invisibility

Scientists design an ‘antimagnet’

Over the last few decades, cloaking devices have come closer and closer to becoming reality. Scientists have masked objects from the human eye using various metamaterials. They’ve created sonic invisibility barriers. They’ve even masked heat. And now they may be able to cloak a magnetic field, too. Ships cruising along during war time are sometimes…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Sep 23

Video Demonstrates Wickedly Cool Night Invisibility Technology

While it only works on night scenarios, BAE’s Adaptiv technology holy-fuck-Batman demonstration has left me dumbfounded. It can make a tank, helicopter or a battleship fully invisible at night. Or disguise them as any other vehicle. This is how it works: 360-degree cameras are mounted onto the vehicle, which capture its surroundings in real time.…

Tech News Jesus Diaz Sep 6

We’re another step closer to the invisibility cloak

A functional invisibility cloak is one of those things that physicists keep chasing, and every six months or so we see an update that brings us one step closer to being able to sneak around without being seen. Today’s major breakthrough comes from an undergraduate student at the University of St Andrews who figured out…

io9 Tim Barribeau Aug 11

Scientists bend time to create invisible light

Within the tight confines of a fiber-optic cable, some researchers at Cornell have managed to create an invisible flash of light. It’s invisible not because the flash is manipulated to be hidden, but because the stretch of time during which it happened is erased by the time the flash gets to the other end of…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Jul 15

Scientists Punch a Hole in the Fabric of Time with a “Time Cloak”

What a preposterous world we live in, where developments in invisibility cloak tech are common enough to elicit yawns. Fine, you unmovable automatons, how about a time cloak? Is that something you might be interested in? Researchers at Cornell have designed, built and demonstrated the first “cloak” that hides events in time. The process relies…

Tech News Kyle Wagner Jul 14

How do you make an inaudibility cloak?

Metamaterials have been used to make invisibility cloaks. To make an inaudibility cloak, all you need are some sheets of plastic and good mathematical modeling. Sight is based on the assumption that light travels in straight lines. When we see something and want to get to it, we follow along a straight sightline. Most of…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Jun 25

Invisibility Does Magical Things With Your iPad 2

The Invisibility app is indeed magical. It takes a mediocre camera on your iPad 2 and turns it into something incredible. The app uses the iPad’s rear camera and gyroscope to display the background image on your screen, even when you move the tablet around. It’s so seamless that it makes the iPad look almost…

Tech News Kelly Jun 23

What is the most scientifically plausible superpower?

We all know that superheroes like Superman or Thor are completely impossible. But just for the sake of argument, are there any superpowers that could actually exist in the real world? We assembled a panel of experts to find out. https://gizmodo.com/the-physics-of-superman-5810945 We asked experts in the field of superhero physics, all of whom have written…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Jun 13

These Soldiers Don’t Need Invisibility Technology

Watch very closely as the camera pans around this landscape and try to locate the horde of soldiers—twenty? thirty?—hiding in plain sight. Apparently, some people in the military need no stinking magic cloaking technology to become invisible. [Thanks Karl!]

Tech News Jesus Diaz Feb 6

This Disc Makes Objects Invisible to Sonar

How do you make an underwater invisibility cloak? You start by creating a device that can manipulate sonar waves. This small cylinder, developed by researchers at the University of Illinois, does just that. Nicholas Fang, a mechanical science and engineering professor at the University of Illinois, lead the development of the device, which is made…

Tech News Kyle VanHemert Jan 10

Spacetime invisibility cloaks can hide entire events inside temporal voids

Invisibility cloaks are taking baby steps from science fiction to science fact. But there’s an even stranger and more incredible possibility – an invisibility cloak that works in both space and time, shielding whole events from history itself. The basic idea is surprisingly simple. We see things because our eyes are able to interpret information…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Nov 16

That Invisible Cloak is Still Being Worked On, Still Edging Closer to Reality

Your pervy, Harry Potter-fueled dreams are edging closer to reality, now British scientists have used metamaterials to bend light in a different manner to previous attempts. Now, it works with a greater range of colors. Previous attempts at creating “invisible” materials have seen photonic metamaterials used to cloak an object, disguising it like “a carpet…

Tech News Kat Hannaford Nov 4

Nanomesh breakthrough brings us one step closer to a cloaking device

“Invisibility cloaks” have been in development for years, but keep hitting a major roadblock — the materials used absorb too much light. New research may have found the trick to get around that, and get us our cloaking devices. https://gizmodo.com/invisiblity-cloaks-jump-into-the-third-dimension-5498606 The premise of cloaking devices hinge on metamaterials — materials which are engineered to have…

io9 Tim Barribeau Aug 9

Invisiblity Cloaks Jump Into The Third Dimension

Invisibility cloaks took a step from science fiction to science fact this past weekend. A team of German scientists announced the construction of the first material that renders objects invisible in three dimensions. The field of transformation optics has made tremendous strides in the last few years towards invisibility by harnessing metamaterials, minuscule artificial structures…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Mar 22

Invisibility Cloak Project Becomes More Realistic

Invisibility cloak project is back on! It’s from a different team of scientists that were using silver-plated nanoparticles in water though, with these latest Harry Potter enthusiasts using photonic metamaterials to change light rays. https://gizmodo.com/invisibility-cloak-technology-back-on-track-wand-techn-5443927 The idea is to cloak an object and disguise it with the use of light rays, like a “carpet mirror”,…

Tech News Kat Hannaford Mar 19

Historic Naval Gunship, Fully Cloaked

After Japan decimated the Allied Fleet in WWII’s Battle of the Java Sea, the Abraham Crijnssen, a minesweeper, was ordered to escape to Australia. To avoid detection, the 186-foot boat was simply covered in branches. [HNSA via MAKE via boingboing]

Tech News Mark Wilson Feb 8

Invisibility Cloak Technology Back On Track; Wand Technology Still Lacking

Scientists are fickle, aren’t they? First they’re saying we can’t have invisibility cloaks, now they’re saying we can. I vote “can,” obviously. How will it work? The same way everything in the future will work: nanoparticles. https://gizmodo.com/scientists-thwart-the-invisibility-cloak-again-5419819 A team from Fudan University in Shanghai believes that silver-plated nanoparticles suspended in water could be the trick…

Tech News Brian Barrett Jan 8

Scientists Thwart the Invisibility Cloak (Again)

Invisibility cloaks don’t even exist (unless you’re Liu Bolin), yet scientists keep trying to ruin the fun. C’mon, guys. Wouldn’t it be more enjoyable to figure out the awesome uses for one instead of trying to get us all caught? https://gizmodo.com/liu-bolin-creates-slowest-least-practical-invisibility-5397102 This latest bummer involves two parts. The first is pretty simple. An invisibility cloak…

Tech News Chris Jacob Dec 5

More Low-Tech Invisibility Cloaks, This Time in NYC

Yesterday, I showed you Liu Bolin’s analog take on invisibility. Today, I’ve got more for you: say hello to Fred Lebain…if you can see him. https://gizmodo.com/liu-bolin-creates-slowest-least-practical-invisibility-5397102 Fred’s technique is similar to Liu’s, but instead of painting himself, he uses large photographs. He goes to various spots in NYC, take a photo, then returns a few…

Tech News Adam Frucci Nov 5

Liu Bolin Creates Slowest, Least Practical Invisibility Cloak Ever

Liu Bolin is a Chinese artist who makes himself invisible. See him hiding there in the picture above? But wait, how does he do it? With paint! Yes, Bolin paints his whole body to blend into the background, which is incredibly impressive yet also pretty impractical when you need to get invisible quickly, without the…

Tech News Adam Frucci Nov 4

Scientists design an ‘antimagnet’

Video Demonstrates Wickedly Cool Night Invisibility Technology

We’re another step closer to the invisibility cloak

Scientists bend time to create invisible light

Scientists Punch a Hole in the Fabric of Time with a “Time Cloak”

How do you make an inaudibility cloak?

Invisibility Does Magical Things With Your iPad 2

What is the most scientifically plausible superpower?

These Soldiers Don’t Need Invisibility Technology

This Disc Makes Objects Invisible to Sonar

Spacetime invisibility cloaks can hide entire events inside temporal voids

That Invisible Cloak is Still Being Worked On, Still Edging Closer to Reality

Nanomesh breakthrough brings us one step closer to a cloaking device

Invisiblity Cloaks Jump Into The Third Dimension

Invisibility Cloak Project Becomes More Realistic

Historic Naval Gunship, Fully Cloaked

Invisibility Cloak Technology Back On Track; Wand Technology Still Lacking

Scientists Thwart the Invisibility Cloak (Again)

More Low-Tech Invisibility Cloaks, This Time in NYC

Liu Bolin Creates Slowest, Least Practical Invisibility Cloak Ever

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