Per the CNN video segmentit claims the tech is “in the fabric” and is not some powered video screen concept. Any ideas how this magic fabric is supposed to “bend light”?
Omg. Harry Potter is real :eek:
First link is a cop who “speed[s] away,” which means they sit by the fire for several seconds, checking their computer or whatever. Then they drive slowly away.
Second link: when I hear a guy invented a “negative ion generator,” my BS-sensor tingles. Google search on it gets poorly formatted website that says ???. From that video, not enough to make a conclusion. His website (not the previous) says “Developer of new military camouflage based on mathematical fractals.” He is advised by Jay Neitz, who I know is not a quack. Haven’t heard of his research in this specific area, though.
Relevant link. Might take me awhile to pore through this. The science links are credible, but the whole I can’t figure out yet.
My conclusion: ???
Start by looking at the concept of metamaterials. From the wiki,
A scientific paper describing the design and properties of a fibre exhibiting such negative refractive indices, may be read here. (Pdf.) From the abstract of the paper:
Perhaps the military has found a way around their boundary issues?
The CNN video doesn’t have anything to do with the topic, and the YouTube link is some random crackpot, so it’s hard to tell what the OP is asking about. But there are two completely different technologies that are often described as “invisibility cloaks”, and neither is anywhere remotely near practical.
One is the metamaterials Gray Ghost mentions. They work, in principle, but the smaller the wavelength you’re working with, the finer the detail you need in your nanowires. So far, it’s only actually been done in microwaves, which are a far cry indeed from visible light. In fact, I’m skeptical that it’s even possible to make something out of atoms that would work with visible light.
The other consists of taking an image with a camera, and then somehow putting that image on a surface, so that if you’re standing in just the right spot, the surface sort of looks transparent. The catch here is that even if you can match everything up just right, it only works from that exact angle. If the military wants invisibility that only works against someone standing in one exact spot, the easier method is to just fire an M16 at that spot.
Another good username/topic confluence.
I saw the story on CNN that the OP must have been referring to. It was complete nonsense. Someone must have been listening too long to the likes of Michio Kaku, spouting off about invisibility cloaks. As Chronos says, those thing aren’t anything like their name implies. I blame the scientists who are deliberately using this terminology to make their work sound more exciting. Typically they show that under some highly contrived circumstance with absolutely monchromatic waves, cominig from just the right angle in some limited number of dimensions (1 or 2) the waves go past the obstacle just as if the obstacle wasn’t there. Nothing to do with invisibility cloaks. Harry Potter is fantasy, but someone in the military must have bought this story of cloaks made out of whole cloth, so to speak.
This “retro video” technique wouldn’t work very well even at that, unless whatever surface that is displaying the image is able to match or come close to the ambient luminance of whatever setting it’s in. Most likely, it’ll be outside in broad daylight. That’s pretty frikkin’ bright.
Take your laptop outdoors, set to the brightest setting and you’ll see what I mean.
Top Gear did it recently. It was surprisingly effective but more in a “camouflage” sense rather than true invisibility - quite disorientating. The actual footage from the show doesn’t appear to be on YouTube but someone filmed them going past. It looked a lot better on the show, as they were obviously filming from the right vantage point.
The brightness seemed to match fairly well - they used those bright LED(?) screens like they use in stadiums.
Most of these seem roughly as effective as asking your enemy to close their eyes.
Hey, it works on Traal.
Why shouldn’t the military throw a few million at this half-true, half-baked nonsense? They already spent ridiculous amounts on high-tech dowsing rods for mine detection.
It worked for Malcolm. Plus it was recyclable.