Science creates invisiblity cloak... or New hope for Old Ninjas

[MA-Caver]

WASHINGTON - Scientists are boldly going where only fiction has gone before — to develop a Cloak of Invisibility. It isn't quite ready to hide a Romulan space ship from Capt. James T. Kirk or to disguise
Harry Potter, but it is a significant start and could show the way to more sophisticated designs.

In this first successful experiment, researchers from the United States and England were able to cloak a copper cylinder.

It's like a mirage, where heat causes the bending of light rays and cloaks the road ahead behind an image of the sky.

"We have built an artificial mirage that can hide something from would-be observers in any direction," said cloak designer David Schurig, a research associate in Duke University's electrical and computer engineering department.

For their first attempt, the researchers designed a cloak that prevents microwaves from detecting objects. Like light and radar waves, microwaves usually bounce off objects, making them visible to instruments and creating a shadow that can be detected.

Cloaking used special materials to deflect radar or light or other waves around an object, like water flowing around a smooth rock in a stream. It differs from stealth technology, which does not make an aircraft invisible but reduces the cross-section available to radar, making it hard to track.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061019/ap_on_sc/cloak_of_invisibility

If they get to perfecting this technology it'll be helpful to (our) troops to say the least. You can't shoot what you can't see. Other than military applications (and maybe LEO's) I can't see any civilian use for this technology. Criminal yeah, but for the average John Doe... nope. What do ya'll think?

 

[Cryozombie]

I can't see any civilian use for this technology. Criminal yeah, but for the average John Doe... nope. What do ya'll think?

There is absolutley Civilian use for this... Hiding a "safe" for your valuables, for example... stores concealing the locations of their security cameras, etc...