Scientists say they are a step closer to developing materials that could render people and objects invisible. Researchers have demonstrated for the first time they were able to cloak three-dimensional objects using artificially engineered materials that redirect light around the objects.
Previously, they only have been able to cloak very thin two-dimensional objects.
The findings, by scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, led by Xiang Zhang, are to be released later this week in the journals Nature and Science.
The new work moves scientists a step closer to hiding people and objects from visible light, which could have broad applications, including military ones.
People can see objects because they scatter the light that strikes them, reflecting some of it back to the eye. Cloaking uses materials, known as metamaterials, to deflect radar, light or other waves around an object, like water flowing around a smooth rock in a stream.
Metamaterials are mixtures of metal and circuit board materials such as ceramic, Teflon or fiber composite. They are designed to bend visible light in a way that ordinary materials don’t. Scientists are trying to use them to bend light around objects so they don’t create reflections or shadows.
It differs from stealth technology, which does not make an aircraft invisible but reduces the cross-section available to radar, making it hard to track.
The research was funded in part by the U.S. Army Research Office and the National Science Foundation’s Nano-Scale Science and Engineering Center.
Bernie Mac was one of those comedians that carried on a legacy… He was of that breed of comic that was considered to be “Raw”… The angry cussing, misogynistic, in-your-face, downright hilarious comic that said what we all wanted to say but we’re too damn wussy to do.
I don’t think there’s anyone in the pipeline to carry that torch just yet… So I think Bernie left us too soon. But here’s a tribute that takes us from Bernie’s early days… On through his heyday …And going on down the lineage to the originator… Warning… None Of These Are Safe For Work… NSFW!!!
Thanks For The Memories Bernie Mac…
Bernie Followed Another Comic That Fit The Mold… And Died Much Too Young… Here’s Robin Harris..
And Then There Was Sam… Kinison That Is...
Even Though I Don’t Include Eddie Murphy In This Pantheon Any More… He Showed A Lot Of Promise Back In The Day…
Of Course … The Undisputed King of The Filthy Mouth Raw Comics… King Richard.
But… There Was An Even Earlier “Raw” Comic… But They Called His Work “Blue”… But He Was Redd…
I’m Sure There Was Some Sly Devil Who Inspired Redd Foxx… But We’d Have To Get Into The Old Party Albums To Talk About Them… But Suffice To Say… These Guys Brought The Raw Version Of Comedy To The Mainstream… And We’re All Less Uptight Because Of Them.
Bernie Mac Was The Latest Of This Line… R.I.P. Bernie…
So many people are remembering this man as a cartoon voice actor… But anyone who lived through the 1970′s will know him as a music master of unparalleled talent… An awful lot of today’s musicians owe their sound and style to him… “Hot Buttered Soul” and “To Be Continued” were prizes of my album collection and are sitting in their own playlists in my iTunes collection.
This Is What “Rap Music” Means To Me…. From Waaaay Before What Is Called Rap Today… 1971
And If You’d Like To Hear “What Ike’s Rap” continues into… Here It Is…