What a Concept 4

The fourth installment of the What a Concept post has a concept that is taking a leap into the scientific.  Cloaking.  Yeah, invisible "magic" cloaks are a concept anyone can find some use for, good or mildly perverted.  Either way it gets used, it is good to see something this cool has had progress in its development.  This is instead of covering some of the designs from the Oregon Manifest which deserves far more attention for it's ridiculousness than the Friday post.

University of Dallas scientists have found a way to fashion carbon nanotubes, the same material used to improve displays and solar panels, into an invisibility cloak. Scientists discovered that if they heated the tubes underwater they could create a “mirage effect” to make objects completely disappear.

It’s really that simple. All the scientists had to do was setup a sheet of one-molecule-thick carbon nanotubes sheets and apply an extreme amount of heat--we’re talking a maximum of 2,500 degrees Kelvin (2,300 degrees Celsius). No big deal, right?

The carbon nanotube creates a mirage in the same way the beating sun on a hot summer day makes it look like the sky is part of the street. (Mirages are created by light bending in an upward concave arc as hot air rises, so when you see the sky as part of the ground, your eyes are actually sensing an image from the bent photons.)

Not the first though, as the previous attempt only works in water so far, the Japanese have one that is alike to a wearable projector. It takes the image from behind the object and reproduces it on the front face of the cloak. A Russian scientist has taken this concept and begun work to improve the design by using bent particles rather than re-displaying images from front to back. The promise of this technology becoming functional and usable is no longer science fiction.

Optical camouflage technology developed by scientists at the University of Tokyo. This approach works on the same principles of the blue screen used by TV weather forecasters and Hollywood filmmakers. If you want people to see through you, then why not just film what's behind you and project it onto your body?

 ~ How stuff Works

Graphic~How stuff works

 All this is now living on the glorious internet now, information of a "possible" concept. That means our government has working tech and special teams of cloaked Marines trained and waiting for an opportunity to ghost bad guys. Awesome.

I am so going to want one of these when they come out to the general public. Then again so will every other nerd and weirdo out there. I can see the line outside of Best buy on the release date of the new icloak. Stores will have to employ new door sensors to catch cloaked shop lifters, and locker rooms everywhere beware.

Ultimate non-conformist outfit

How does cloaking relate to cycling? Imagine being able to ride completely unseen.... oh, that already is a problem, well, um... maybe it will raise awareness and cause the development of tech to sense things that you don't see. Therefore meaning cloaking may help the uncloaked finally get noticed. Also, consider the idea of forced cloaking, covering such eye sores as hipsters. Yeah... nailed it.

Schwartzenkitteh no need hide!

There is one downside besides the obvious misuse being very transparent. It has the potential to make us soft by giving us a total hermit style way to escape everything while still being smack in the middle of it. Rather than having to have some resilience to the blows that society deals us, we can hide. It may not be a HUGE problem at first, but as things become more mainstream, cloaking in the future may be common and normal. I'm sure there is some future sci fi social issue movie resting in this idea. For now we will have to settle for being seen, puffing up, and facing the world with a brave face.

 Rating ~ 6 full Einstars!