Scientists progress towards cloaking device

October 20, 2006

Scientists from the United States and the United Kingdom have announced that they have invented a way to make things invisible in microwaves. The new mechanism is currently operated by what scientists call "metamaterial" which is a new material that has been created in a laboratory and can decrease the scattering as well as the shadow cast by a specially designed copper cylinder. This means that the cylinder is partially cloaked.

"It's not exactly perfect &mdash; we can do better &mdash; but it demonstrates the mechanism, the way the waves swirl around the centre region where you want to conceal things," said Duke University scientist, David Smith. The findings have been published in the October 19 edition of the journal Science.