NOW YOU SEE ME, NOW YOU DON'T

Scientists around the world are working on ways to hide us from sight. But how close are we to developing tech that could make us invisible?

- DR ANNA PLOSZAJSKI

The urge to become invisible goes back a long way. Hunters and soldiers have been finding ways to camouflage themselves for centuries, but scientists are edging closer to truly making things invisible. Modern stealth tech can not only shield planes from radar, but can also conceal heat signatures from infrared cameras and stop sound waves from being heard. So how close are we to developing invisibility technology?

HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT

We see objects because when light interacts with them the light is absorbed and reflected. Transparent objects, such as windows, allow light to pass through them almost undisturbed. For an invisibility cloak to hide an opaque object, it would need to redirect the light around it instead.

One of the earliest proof-of-concept cloaking devices was developed in 2006 by engineers at Duke University. This experimental device was made up of a copper cylinder that was 'hidden' by deflecting microwaves around it, making it appear almost as if it wasn't there to a microwave detector. It was made from a metamaterial - a structure made up of a periodic array of features (an arrangement that repeats at regular intervals in three dimensions think of a lattice) that give it unusual properties.