A US-British team of scientists has successfully tested a cloak of invisibility in the laboratory.

The device mostly hid a small copper cylinder from microwaves in tests at Duke University, North Carolina.

It works by deflecting the microwaves around the object and restoring them on the other side, as if they had passed through empty space.

But making an object vanish before a person's eyes is still the stuff of science fiction - for now.

The researchers say that if an object can be hidden from microwaves, it can be hidden from radar - a possibility that will ensure interest from the military.

"We've opened the door into the secret garden," co-author Professor John Pendry, from Imperial College London, told BBC News.

Professor Pendry said a metamaterial cloak could be manufactured to wrap around an fighter plane or tank. But, he said: "You mustn't demand that the cloak be too thin. Despite the hype around Harry Potter, this isn't anything that flaps around in the breeze, it's more like a shed."

Is this actually new?

I don't know if it is new or not. It does remind me of the Philadelphia Experiment though.

I was wondering something on the same lines Alisa, does not seem that new to me.

Just a bit more info on invisibility:

Invisibility is the state of an object which cannot be seen. The term is usually used as a fantasy/science fiction term, where objects are literally made unseeable by magical or technological means. However, its effects can also be seen in the real world, particularly in physics.
Since objects can be seen by light in the visible spectrum from a source reflecting off their surfaces and hitting the viewer's eye, the most natural form of invisibility (whether real or fictional) is an object which does not reflect nor absorbs light (that is, it allows light to pass through it). In nature, this is known as transparency, and is seen in many naturally-occurring materials (although no naturally-occurring material is 100% transparent).

Visibility also depends on the eyes of the observer and/or the instruments used. Thus an object can be classified as "invisible to" a person, animal, instrument, etc.

People have attributed invisibility to things that do not exist in order to explain why they're not apparent. In the Middle Ages, fern seeds were thought to be invisible since ferns don't have seeds. They were also said to grant invisibility. In medieval astronomy, the crystal spheres that held up the sun, moon, stars, and planets were invisible. Fairies, gnomes, brownies etc have also been described as invisible or able to become invisible.
Currently, many entities or phenomena whose existence is disputed, such as ghosts, demons, qi, and auras, are also ascribed invisibility.

Philadelphia Experiment

The Philadelphia Experiment was a supposed secret experiment conducted by the U.S. Navy at the Philadelphia Naval Yards at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on or before October 28, 1943, which went horribly awry. The experiment was allegedly to cast a veil of radar and possibly optical invisibility or transparency around a ship. Though most mainstream experts argue the incident is an urban legend, a number of people argue that the Philadelphia Experiment could be genuine. Whether true or not, the Philadelphia Experiment has had a major ripple effect on conspiracy theory, and elements of the Philadelphia Experiment feature in many other conspiracy tales and provided the basis for various films and mini-series.

Utterly brilliant post, Chris! :tsup: The invisibility explanation was great and ties so much together for me. Thanks for the summary of the Philadephia Experiment, too.