
This is incredibly cool: A group of engineers and mathematicians have built a device that renders an object invisible to waves of water.
Last month, I blogged about the ever-more-surreal research into “invisibility cloaks” (including some Chinese guys who invented anti-invisibility technology). As you may recall, the invisibility cloaks all work by hacking the wave nature of light. The cloak consists of a round barrier around an object that takes incoming waves of light — microwave or visible — and reforms them, almost perfectly, on the other side of the barrier. Since the waves coming out have the same shape as the waves going in, presto: The object becomes invisible.
So: If this works with waves of light, could it work with waves of water? Apparently so. This new group of researchers, based in the UK and Europe, created the round metal barrier above, which reformats waves. As the New Scientist reports:
It may look like waves could pass easily along the radial corridors to the cloak’s centre. But they interact with the pillars, producing forces that pull water along the concentric corridors instead.“Basically, the cloak behaves like a whirlpool,” says Sebastian Guenneau at the University of Liverpool, UK, and a member of Enoch’s team. “The further you go into the whirlpool, the faster you rotate.”
The spinning rate increases close to the cloak’s centre where the concentric corridors are narrower, making the forces greater, he explains.
As the water whizzes around the cloak, the waves are flung out again along the radial corridors. “If you imagine water entering the cloak from the north, some leaves the cloak to the east, and some leaves to the west, but most is thrown out at the south,” says Guenneau.
The waves exiting the cloak travel as if they have not been disturbed at all, he says.
The question is whether these devices could be used to protect objects moored at sea, like oil rigs or those crazy artificial islands off the coast of Dubai.
(Thanks to Morgan Noel for this one!)
I'm Clive Thompson, a writer on science, technology, and culture. This blog collects bits of offbeat research I'm running into, and musings thereon.
Currently, I'm a contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine and a columnist for Wired magazine. I also write for Fast Company and Wired magazine's web site, among other places. Email or AOL IM me (pomeranian99) to say hi or send in something strange!
The “Milky Way Transit Authority” map
Should automobile software be open-sourced?
My Bookforum review of Jaron Lanier’s “You Are Not A Gadget”
Molecular secrets of the “iron-plated snail”
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January 31, 2010 » 07:29 PM
V. A. To me death seems to be an evil.
M. What, to those who are already dead? or to those who must die?
A. To both.
M. It is a misery, then, because an evil?
A. Certainly.
M. Then those who have already died, and those who have still got to die, are both miserable?
A. So it appears to me.
M. Then all are miserable?
A. Every one.
January 24, 2010 » 03:22 PM
One of the more interesting trends is family, which came in at number five. Specifically, discussion about family, moms, dads, daughters, etc. jumped during 2009. With Facebook users getting older, this isn’t a big surprise. However, the fact that the mention of “kids” jumped by a factor of five this year is rather dramatic. It’s tough to know what this means, though. (via Facebook Unveils Most-Mentioned Topics of 2009
)
January 15, 2010 » 01:36 PM
BEYOND AWESOME. They are announcing a recall of the Plush Uterus “due to a potential choking hazard for children”. To apply for it, “Please send an email to the address below with the subject line, ‘UTERUS OPT OUT’”.
January 14, 2010 » 10:04 PM
“To order, please TYPE “YES” IN CHECKBOX BELOW TO AGREE YOU UNDERSTAND THIS PLUSH MUST BE KEPT AWAY FROM KIDS (it is a sex organ, after all). If it is not checked, WE WILL NOT SEND THE UTERUS.” (via @ibogost)
January 11, 2010 » 01:45 PM
I watched Space: 1999 back in the day, but I swear to god I do not remember this scene.
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