The cloak of the seer and the invisible is already here

Scientists from the University of Tokyo are developing technology that will make it possible to "disappear", just like Harry Potter or the Romulan spaceships in Star Trek  

As part of the transfer of the futurist from the old format to the new, we combined two files that contained three pieces of information with one common denominator - Danny Dean's suit - which scientists are working on developing a version of in reality. The last news is from a year ago. We will be happy to update when things resume

The cloak of the one who sees and is not seen - within a year and a half - so promise researchers whose research was published in the online edition of Science this weekend
28.5.2006

By: Avi Blizovsky
If we talk about nanotechnology and special materials, imagine a cloak that makes you see and not look like the cloak that Harry Potter inherited from his father (and maybe he got it from our Danny Dean?). Researchers in the UK and the US believe they know how to do this. They announced a plan to develop exotic materials needed to sew the cloak.
The idea is to use artificial materials, which are not similar to those used at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. These materials are designed to deflect light and other forms of electromagnetic radiation around an object, making it virtually invisible as if someone had punched a hole in space.
“Science fiction?, no. This is a theoretical possibility, but what prevents us from reaching it are the technological and engineering limitations," says John Pendry, a physicist at Imperial College London.
Details of the study, which Pendry co-authored, appeared last Thursday in the online version of the journal Science.
"This is a very interesting science and an interesting idea, and it relies on a broad mathematical and physical basis," said Nadar Angata, a professor of electrical and systems engineering at the University of Pennsylvania. Angata has conducted his own research in the field of invisibility using innovative materials called metamaterials.

Pendry and his colleagues suggested using metamaterials because they can be tuned to bend electromagnetic radiation—radio waves and visible light, for example—in any desired direction. A cloak composed of these materials, with a structure designed down to the sub-microscopic level, will neither reflect light nor create a shadow. Instead, like a river flowing around a smooth cliff, the light and other forms of electromagnetic radiation will hit the cloak and simply bypass it, continuing as if nothing had interfered and blocked their path. This will give the viewer from the outside the feeling of watching through the cloak, when everything inside disappears from sight.

It's possible to make someone invisible as long as they're wearing the jacket made of these materials, says Patanjali Parimi, a physicist at Northwestern University and an engineer at Chelton Microwave in Bolton, Massachusetts. Parimi was not involved in the research.
Such a cloak does not yet exist, but the first versions that can screen out microwaves and other forms of electromagnetic radiation will be out within 18 months, Pandry said. According to him, the research was an invitation to come and play with these newnesses. "We will have a cloak before long" he said. The research was supported by the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency because the technology may have military applications.

While Harry Potter can put on the cloak to disguise himself at Hogwarts, the real world version might not be so comfortable to wear, it's possible that instead of a coat a shelter will be built from this material.

Dunedin is Japanese

Scientists from the University of Tokyo are developing technology that will make it possible to "disappear", just like Harry Potter or the Romulan spaceships in Star Trek

Michal Saaf, Galileo, 5/8/04

The ability to disappear from sight - to become transparent, like Harry Potter, and like the Romulan spaceships in "Star Trek" - seems quite useful. Scientists (Susumu Tachi, Masahiko Inami and Naoki Kawakami) from the University of Tokyo are now taking the first steps towards developing technology that will make this possible.

Like crashing into glass
What is transparency? A transparent object passes the light rays from one end to the other. If the rays pass without absorption or changes of direction, we will not notice the existence of the object at all (have you ever bumped into a large glass window, simply because it was clean?). Most solid objects absorb light from their surroundings, and reflect some of it according to their physical and chemical properties.
Transparent objects do transmit light, but since most of them have a refractive index different from that of air, the light goes through certain distortions, or is reflected from polished parts (think of a glass), allowing us to distinguish the contours of the object. The Japanese technology is very simple in essence, but due to technical and principle limitations, it is not perfect.
receptors and radiation
The idea is based on a system of receptors on one side of the object, and a projection system on the other side. The light received on one side by a video camera is processed by a computer and transmitted to a projector. The projector, located at some distance from the other side of the cloak wearer, projects the image onto the cloak. The cloak functions as a screen, but it is made of a different material than a normal cinema screen.
The cloak is coated with a material known as a retro-reflector, which reflects the light exactly in the direction from which it came, as opposed to a normal material which reflects the light in all directions. In this way, a particularly sharp and bright image is obtained, similar to the brightness of a light reflector on a bicycle. This creates the illusion of uninterrupted light passage. We "see" what is on the other side of the object.

The disappearance is not perfect
The disappearance is not perfect. The illusion of transparency is created only if the body is viewed from a certain direction. Since the absorption and projection system is external to the body, and since there is a certain directionality to the projection, the movement of the body will distort the image. Even when viewing from the right direction there are limitations: the body still reflects and absorbs light differently from its background, and if a stronger light is projected onto it than the one emitted by the projectors - it will be detected.
It is susceptible to detection in other fields of radiation, such as infrared and radio, but this limitation can be overcome, in principle, by developing a similar system that will operate at these frequencies instead of visible light frequencies. This technology can have many useful applications, such as making windowless walls transparent for aesthetic or safety purposes.
Ideal camouflage net
Thus, for example, the field of vision of a pilot in an airplane or a driver in a car can be expanded, without changing the structure of the fuselage or vehicle. You can "expand" the window or make the floor and walls transparent. This is an ideal camouflage net for equipment that we don't want to be seen from an aerial view. In the future it may also be possible to use this to camouflage aircraft in motion. Other applications, of a negative nature, are also possible. The potential for invasion of privacy by making walls transparent is there.

The cloak of the seer and the invisible is already here

Avi Blizovsky and Beni Ran, 26/5/04
Flying cars, transparent cloaks, mind-reading technology and games that operate using brain waves - isn't this science fiction? Not anymore, judging by Next-Fest, an exhibition organized by the technology magazine Wired in San Francisco. "This is a city that's always looking for the next thing," says executive editor Chris Anderson. "We have gathered the most innovative minds and the most advanced technologies from around the world, things that will change the way we live, work and play."

The 110 exhibited were selected from among 2,500 research and development projects in universities and companies around the world. Some of them illustrate new thinking while others challenge existing concepts - such as Brainball, a computer game that, according to Thomas Brom from the Interactive Institute of Sweden, is actually an anti-game. "The more relaxed you are, the less you will want to win - and thus your chances of winning the game will increase. Brainball measures the alpha waves in the brain and only the calmest person will be able to move the ball to the other side of the court - and win." Adherents of the game include musician Brian Eno, yoga instructors and teachers of children suffering from ADHD.

The loudest exclamations of admiration were squeezed out by a car that looked like it came off the set of a Hollywood movie. SkyCar was invented by Paul Muller, who invested 200 million dollars in it. The car is content with a runway of only ten meters, while the 770 hp engine allows it to soar to a height of about two kilometers in a minute and reach a speed of about 600 km/h. "According to NASA, within ten years 25 percent of American citizens will be able to afford SkyCar. In 25 years, 90 percent of the people will use it" - says Muller, but currently the flying car costs 500,000 dollars.

Fans of futuristic fashion will love the fabric whose appearance can be changed by downloading a suitable pattern from the Internet, or the suit that monitors the health of the wearer. "Wearable computers are already serving the fashion and health industries" says Federic Zenhausen from the Center for Nanotechnology and Biotechnology Sciences of the University of Arizona.

On the modeling runway were presented a suit that monitors the signs of life or detects toxins, or a suit that, with the help of a tiny fuel cell and a GPS device, transmits the wearer's location. On the battlefield, the invisible suit can help, as if it came out of the Harry Potter series and is covered with reflective panels and cameras. The image from each side is transmitted to the other side and thus it seems as if the person wearing it is transparent. "The technology can help pilots to see through the floor the plane below them, and drivers to see through the trunk the car in front of which they want to park," says Naoki Kawamaki from the University of Tokyo.

Technology that detects the "fingerprints" of the brain can help investigate terrorists, by measuring brain waves in response to words related to a certain event or images that describe it. Dr. Lawrence Farwell, who developed the technology in collaboration with the CIA and the FBI, says the idea is to enable "humane investigation that yields scientific results."

And Asimo, the humanoid robot proved that he knows how to walk around, go up and down stairs and even dance. The manufacturer, Honda, believes that it will be able to help bedridden, debilitated, blind and disabled people.