Tag Archives: cloaking
Facebook uses AI to detect fake ads
Facebook has been making efforts to be more transparent about its efforts to moderate posts and combat the spread of fake news and other spam, especially after the social network's effects on the recent election in the US. Today, the organization dis...
Rochester Cloak: Harry Potter’s invisibility cloack might soon be a reality
What looks like magic to us might soon be a normal occurrence thanks to science, and seems invisibility might be the next big thing we’ll achieve.
Meet the Rochester Cloak, a “Cloak of Invisibility” of sorts developed by a group of researchers from the University of Rochester. What it does is completely hide objects from view. The weird thing about it, though, is that the University of Rochester Newscenter claims this device is inexpensive, and can be built at home with every day materials.
The process is simple: by using four standard lenses, and depending on the position of the viewer, any one object can become invisible. Obviously, this would have no use at all if it was only one direction it cloaks, but a multitude of them. So, more than a cloak like Harry Potter’s, probably a shield would create a better mental image.
If readers wish to learn more about this concept, just head to the video right below these lines.
Via Syracuse
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At Long Last: A Legit Cloaking Device Has Been Made
Every attempt at cloaking devices thus far in our collective technological history has been either bollocks or an array of cameras and some kind of weird screen. The result was that objects kept their shape and displayed a background. Sure, it was less conspicuous than wearing a clown costume, but it’s not the true invisibility that we were all hoping for. Now here’s the big thing: this is, and it costs about $100 to make at home.
“From what we know this is the first cloaking device that provides three-dimensional, continuously multidirectional cloaking,” says University of Rochester grad student and researcher Joseph Choi. No, it can’t yet conceal your entire body, but the fact that an array of common lenses (and some virgin unicorn’s blood, I assume) can make an object just straight up disappear is amazing.
This could be very useful in a variety of fields, according to Choi: “I imagine this could be used to cloak a trailer on the back of a semi-truck so the driver can see directly behind him. It can be used for surgery, in the military, in interior design, art.”
As the director of a ballet company, I’m picturing a clever way to make some of the artform’s more ethereal characters (sylphs, willis, assorted visions and hallucinations) simply appear and disappear into thin air: it would be amazing.
[via Opposing Views]
Duke University creates ‘perfect’ one-directional microwave cloak, might lead to stealthier vehicles
Most attempts at cloaking, no matter the slice of spectrum, usually leave clues as to what's there -- even microwave cloaks can spoil the surprise through reflections. At Duke University, researchers have licked some of those past problems with the first instance of a flawless microwave cloaking scheme. By crafting a special diamond-shaped cloak where the light properties stay consistent at the corners, the school's Nathan Landy and David Smith have successfully shielded a 3-inch wide cylinder from microwave detection without a hint that something was amiss. The gotcha, as hinted by the shape, is a two-dimensional nature that gives away the secret at less than ideal angles. Duke suggests that it still has the groundwork for something that could be vital for communications or radar -- we can imagine a stealth aircraft or ship in the far-flung future that could actively mask itself from radar signals. It's not quite the optical illusion we're looking for, but a refined version of the Duke project might be enough for a rare practical use of cloaking when fantasies are much more common.
Duke University creates 'perfect' one-directional microwave cloak, might lead to stealthier vehicles originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 12 Nov 2012 19:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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