A cloaking device, any one?

[digital angel]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15837145

 

[Cognisant]

For when your black clothes just aren't black enough...

 

[SkyWalker]

Well not black, but invisible.
Would be great fun to sell invisible shirts, people could see through your upper body! Even if it would not work that well, just a bit of a strange effect would already be fun. It would be a huge hype. This is a money maker!

 

[rattymat]

Engineers from University of Michigan found they could be used to obscure objects so that they appeared to be nothing more than a flat black sheet.
Since when did black=invisible?

 

[puer curiosus]

Well, the black coating would clearly have advantages as mentioned in the article since it would absorb all stray light. But I guess we have a long way to go before we have anything resembling the invisibility cloaks featured in SF and fantasy novels. Hopefully though, it wouldn't be too long a wait.

 

[Zionoxis]

We could always further develop hologram projectors, put a camera in front and back with a projector in front and back of the person.

 

[SkyWalker]

i could have a sweater with a fiber glass like light redirection system which takes light in from the back and lets it continue in the front in the same direction, as if my body was never in the middle. giving the effect of invisibility.

 

[scorpiomover]

The team suggest "forests" of the material may one day be used to cloak spacecraft in deep space.

Hiding in space, light years from everyone who isn't there anyway. Yeah, really useful.

 

[Roran]

This is obviously not an invisibility cloak, but if there were to be one for personal use, one that worked by letting light pass through you as if you were not there (as most in SF novels and games seem to work) you would not be able to see, which could be somewhat of a problem.

 

[Reluctantly]

Nothing beats the proven performance of the invisibility box: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfZv6bFwbkA&feature=related

 

[fivepointer]

This is obviously not an invisibility cloak, but if there were to be one for personal use, one that worked by letting light pass through you as if you were not there (as most in SF novels and games seem to work) you would not be able to see, which could be somewhat of a problem.

I suppose you could train the visually impaired to use it, thus rendering that effect null?

 

[Cognisant]

Hiding in space, light years from everyone who isn't there anyway. Yeah, really useful.

Actually it would be, it may not be a perfect cloak but spy satellites could make good use of it, as could various missile launchers and smart mines, indeed I daresay this is a foundational technology for interstellar warfare; also there's the whole "high ground" thing, that is having equipment in space is a huge tactical advantage over any planetary forces if only because it's easier to shoot down than it is to shoot up.

 

[Cavallier]

One of my favorite Sci-Fi authors thought of this some 10 years ago. Finally real life is starting to catch up a little.

People make fun of me for reading science fiction. Little do they know...