If Harry Potter – esque invisibility cloaks actually existed, how would you find them in your closet?
This question has plagued me since high school and perhaps it will start plaguing other cluttered people in the near future.
John and Benjamin Howell, not of Hogwarts, but of the University of Rochester, have announced that they designed an invisibility cloak that can be adjusted any size. In fact, the Howells designed a device that is capable of hiding a human being, or even a wizard.
By using lenses and mirrors, light is maneuvered around the object to make it seem like it’s not there. With this design, an invisibility cloak can be reshaped to fit any size. For the Howells, this is quite remarkable.
“The point we wish to emphasize is not the novelty but the ease of scaling to nearly arbitrary size,” they state.
The invisibility cloak is far from being perfected. Remember, this is an optical illusion. As of now, the current developments in invisibility devices can only make an object seem veiled from one direction. Though scientists have yet to create a device that can make objects invisible from multiple directions, they’re still imagining the possibilities. One use for a unidirectional invisibility cloak could be to hide satellites in mid-to-high orbit.
That, or some people just really want to see what the inside of a girl’s locker room looks like.
(Hint: it’s not like anything you’ve ever seen before…)
