invisibility – News Stories About invisibility - Page 1

Food Dye Used in Doritos
Offers a 'Jaw-Dropping' Perk

Food Dye Used in Doritos Offers a 'Jaw-Dropping' Perk

Tartrazine, aka 'Yellow No. 5,' creates see-through skin on mice to help scientists peer inside their bodies

(Newser) - To many consumers, "Yellow No. 5" is best known as the food dye that adds an orange-yellow tinge to snacks and drinks like Doritos, Gatorade, and M&Ms. To a team from Stanford, however, tartrazine, the chemical found in that dye, recently served as a window into living creatures'...

New 'Invisibility Cloak' Actually Works—Sort Of

Nov 12, 2012 7:22 PM CST

New 'Invisibility Cloak' Actually Works—Sort Of

Duke University team renders small cylinder 'invisible'

(Newser) - Well, it's a work in progress anyway: A cloak of invisibility in development for six years has finally made an object invisible—at least from a certain angle, from passing microwaves. A team of Duke University electrical engineers used the cloak to render a half-inch cylinder "invisible" for...

Scientists Closer
to 'Invisible' Cloak

Jan 26, 2012 2:27 PM CST

Scientists Closer to 'Invisible' Cloak

Japan mask 7-inch object from light in microwave spectrum

(Newser) - Scientists have made a leap forward in invisibility technology, successfully testing a material that can fully mask an object from light from all angles, the AFP reports. Sound amazing? Well don't get too excited, because the only light the material masks is on the microwave spectrum—which isn't...

Brit Spies
Used Semen
as Invisible Ink

Brit Spies Used Semen as Invisible Ink

Intelligence chief 'delighted' by discovery

(Newser) - More from the secret world of Britain's MI6: The spy agency apparently used semen as invisible ink during World War I. A new history claims that Chief Mansfield Cumming advised an intelligence officer that the substance makes "the best invisible ink," notes the Telegraph . Another staff member recalls...

Scientists Sneak Up on Invisibility Cloak

Mar 19, 2010 8:12 AM CDT

Scientists Sneak Up on Invisibility Cloak

Material shields object from view in all directions

(Newser) - German scientists say they have successfully used a new material to render an object invisible in three dimensions for the first time. Previous efforts at so-called invisibility cloaks could only hide objects from light coming in one direction. The material changes the behavior of light rays to "transform space,...

Invisibility Cloak Takes
'Big Step Forward'

May 1, 2009 7:38 AM CDT

Invisibility Cloak Takes 'Big Step Forward'

'Carpet' technique bends and flattens light around objects

(Newser) - Two teams of researchers say they're getting close to making a perfect invisibility cloak a reality, the BBC reports. The scientists—using a silicon-based material that eliminates the flaws of earlier, metal-based efforts—successfully made objects invisible at optical wavelengths by bending light around them and producing the illusion of...

Harry Potter Portal
Is Possible: Experts

Sep 23, 2008 4:24 AM CDT

Harry Potter Portal Is Possible: Experts

It's a trick of the light

(Newser) - Harry Potter's invisibility cloak might be a real stretch, but scientists are now closer to making hidden portals like the one in an apparently solid wall that Harry uses to reach the train to Hogwarts, Nature reports. Objects made with so-called metamaterials—electrical devices that react oddly to light—can...

Scientists Closer to
Invisibility Cloak

Aug 10, 2008 5:24 PM CDT

Scientists Closer to Invisibility Cloak

New material geared towards military, medical uses

(Newser) - Soon Harry Potter may not be the only one wearing an invisibility cloak. Researchers today announced a new material that bends light away from objects, causing "negative refraction" and "cloaking." The technology, which adds to earlier research veiling two-dimensional objects, will likely conceal military devices and improve...

Scientists Near Invisibility Cloak for Sound

Feb 16, 2008 12:30 PM CST

Scientists Near Invisibility Cloak for Sound

Special material makes acoustic waves take a detour

(Newser) - Researchers are making progress on something that sounds right out of the pages of Harry Potter—a sort of invisibility cloak for sound. A team of scientists in Spain is trying to turn theory into reality by creating a cloak that causes sound waves to slip around an object, the ...