Big news for wizards and muggles alike. Scientists are actually, legitimately developing an invisibility cloak that could be used to evade pesky teachers and enemies IRL.
Reuters reports that some true magicians are currently developing “an ultra-thin invisibility cloak made of microscopic rectangular gold blocks that, like skin, conform to the shape of an object and can render it undetectable.”
Um, how freaking cool does that sound? Wait until you hear the nitty gritty details about how it works.
The technology involves so-called metamaterials, which possess properties not present in nature. Their surfaces bear features much smaller than the size of a wavelength of light. They redirect incoming light waves, shifting them away from the object being cloaked.
The cloaking “skin” boasts microscopic light-scattering antennae that make light bouncing off an object look as if it were reflected by a flat mirror, rendering the object invisible.
Now, we have to know that this invisibility cloak has only been tested using small objects so far, meaning it’s not officially proven that it will work in the same way that Harry Potter’s did, concealing entire bodies as needed. But apparently those working on it are hoping to continue developing it and improving it over the next decade or so. And, hey, considering we’ve been waiting this long for a real version, we can wait a bit longer, right?
Let’s just hope that they don’t have to resort to any dark arts to make this happen.
(image via 20thcenturyfoxfrance.tumblr.com)
—Please make note of The Mary Sue’s general comment policy.—
Do you follow The Mary Sue on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, & Google +?
