Audio Transcript:
Wave Goodbye.
I'm Bob Karson with the discovery files -- new advances in science and engineering from the National Science Foundation.
Ever wanted to be truly incognito? To somehow be able to cloak yourself and be invisible? Science is still a long way off from the kinds of cloaking devices dreamed up in fantasies from Star Trek to Stargate -- Harry Potter or Predator. But there is a new method of cloaking being developed at the University of Utah that could have some fantastic real-world benefits.
Cloaking is technically making an object invisible to incoming waves -- any kind of wave -- visible light, infrared, radio, even seismic and ocean waves.
Normally, when a wave hits an object, it interacts with it, creating expanding ripples, like a pebble thrown in a pond. But imagine surrounding the object with three nearby cloaking devices -- generating waves that interfere with and neutralize any other incoming waves. The result? The passing waves wouldn't hit the cloaked object, and there'd be no ripples.
The researchers have shown the mathematical feasibility of this "active cloaking," and are using computer simulations to demonstrate.
The team envisions the method to be used some day to protect coastal structures from tsunamis. It may also be able to cloak submarines, hiding them from sonar.
Some amazing stuff -- but I have to wonder if the place these guys work is called a -- "cloak room" -- I know, I know...
"The Discovery Files" covers projects funded by the government's National Science Foundation. Federally sponsored research -- brought to you, by you! Learn more at nsf.gov or on our podcast.
