Look at me!

I'm Invisible

[grandpa]

That's right, as soon as I get my hands on enough of this stuff to make a cape I'm headed to the nearest bank! Just kidding. Still, this sounds like a pretty good leap from our current stealth technology.

Here's a summary [sciencemag.org] of the report.

[grandpa]

The invisible thread?

[john_k]

Don't let the Romulans or Klingons get their hands on this technology!

So, if a pedestrian wearing a cloak of invisibility is hit by a car draped with its own COI, who sues who?

[Old_Honky]

<tip>
If you are worried about invisible stalkers just carry a large can of spray paint around with you.
</tip>

[stapel]

The problem with the invisibility stuff is that it makes the wearer blind. You can't be invisible unless all light goes around you. But you can't see unless some of that light reaches you.

You can't "see out" unless at least some of the light passes through the "invisibility cloak" and impacts your retinas.

And the invisibility stuff won't help for planes and such, because they would still be visible on radar. So you'd have to "bend" those wavelengths, too. You'd end up having to try to fly the plane with absolutely no information about what's going on outside it... like, say, where the ground is.

So this invisibility stuff is cool, but it's not likely to be of any great utility. As a curiosity, though (invisible underpants, anyone?), I think it shows great potential....

Eliz.

[john_k]

To a researcher in need of government funding, anything is feasible. And the more remotely feasible, the better.

[grandpa]

still be visible on radar

There were a few different articles from the link above. Below is part of an abstract for one of those articles.

A simple illustration is given of the cloaking of a proscribed volume of space to exclude completely all electromagnetic fields.

So, presumably, light will be able to pass, enabling vision, when the electromagnetic spectrum is cloaked.

It seems that research is ongoing for differing wavelenghts by several groups. For my 2 cents i'd say fund that research. Maybe they will find a way to see out, too. Otherwise, we may have to wait for a transporter, so we can set the coordinates and know that we are in the right place, completely hidden. This could bring a new meaning to 'bump in the night'.

[stapel]

Either you let light in, so you can see the ground, but the guys on the ground with the shoulder-fired's can see you; or else you don't, so you're invisible, but you slam head-first into the closest mountain.

I think I'll stick to using my invisibility cloak to confuse the cat or hide the TV remote.

;-)

Eliz.