disappearing

Picture this: Invisibility cloak made from glass

Once or twice a year, we bring all you "Harry Potter" fans news of yet another invisibility cloak under development. So it is that we return with word of another scientist promising to help you perform your wizardry in secret.

This time, it's Elena Semouchkina who's venturing into H.G. Wells territory. An associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at Michigan Tech University, Semouchkina has found a way to use magnetic resonance to route rays of light around objects, making the objects undetectable by the human eye.

Other researchers have bent visible light using things … Read more

Invisibility cloak moving closer into view?

That cloaking device we've been dreaming of appears to be one step closer to actual cloakdom, so start pondering the mischievous possibilities.

Scientists from Duke University have improved on their earlier efforts at producing an invisibility cloak, coming up with a new type of device they say is significantly more sophisticated at cloaking an object (and eventually a person?) from visible light.

The device is made from a light-bending composite material that can detour electromagnetic waves around an object and reconnect them on the other side. That creates an effect similar to a distant mirage you'd see hovering above a road on a hot day.

In Duke's latest experiments, a beam of microwaves aimed through the cloaking device at a "bump" on a flat mirror surface bounced off the surface at the same angle, as if the bump wasn't there. Additionally, the device prevented the formation of scattered beams that would normally be expected from such a perturbation. (The team details its findings in far more technical terms than I ever could in the latest issue of Science magazine.) … Read more

Watch your ladies: Trap-door pool table brings sexy up

Here's one for all you weekend project addicts out there. You've probably already torn through dangerous books of all kinds and now you're thinking, "What's next?"

One option is to cut a huge hole into your floor and hide a pool table in it. Seriously. As you can see from the video, you won't be the first, but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy it just as much as the engineering genius (that's not sarcasm) who decided to build a hydraulic lift for his pool table and have it dramatically … Read more

Entrancing: Lincoln's disappearing-door concept

It turns out that BMW is not the only automaker to have toyed with the idea of retractable car doors. Thanks to this video evidence, we now know that Lincoln sponsored an even more elaborate car door mechanism in the 1990s. The mule for the concept was a 1993 Lincoln Mark VIII, from which the B-pillar was removed. Instead of a front-hinged door, the coupe features a retractable panel (complete with an electric window) that slides underneath the car body to allow access. The whole process takes less than 5 seconds from start to finish.

According to auction specialist Ron Susser, &… Read more

Shrinking MP3 players get cheaper

They haven't quite gotten as minuscule as SNL's fabled "Invisa," but MP3 players are clearly getting smaller all the time. And if the "Kana" from Japan's Green-House is any indication, their prices may begin to match the size. This 1GB player measures a little over 1 by 3 inches and weighs less than an ounce, selling for about $52, according to Akihabara News. For now, though, it's not invisible.

Success toward 'cloak of invisibility'

Usually when we encounter the maddeningly overused term "scientific breakthrough," involuntary eye-rolling ensues. But this is one body of science where we wouldn't mind seeing the B-word used liberally.

U.S. and British researchers are reporting initial success in experiments with a "cloak of invisibility." That's right, we're talking H.G. Wells territory here.

To say that the technical explanation is over our heads would be the understatement of the year. But we managed to glean that the experiment involves detouring microwaves around an object and reconnecting them on the other side--creating an &… Read more