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'Laser Cloak' Could Hide Earth from Evil Aliens A new paper describes how laser beams could disrupt measurements of Earth's orbit around the sun, potentially deceiving inquisitive aliens. Here, a 22W laser used for adaptive optics shines from the Very Large Telescope in Chile. Credit: ESO/G. Hüdepohl A simple laser beam could disrupt aliens' observations of Earth, making it look like there's nobody home on the third rock from the sun, a new study suggests. David Kipping, an astronomer at Columbia University in New York, said he first considered this idea when he heard about the strangely dimming star that...

Inspired perhaps by Harry Potter's invisibility cloak, scientists have recently developed several ways—some simple and some involving new technologies—to hide objects from view. The latest effort, developed at the University of Rochester, not only overcomes some of the limitations of previous devices, but it uses inexpensive, readily available materials in a novel configuration. "There've been many high tech approaches to cloaking and the basic idea behind these is to take light and have it pass around something as if it isn't there, often using high-tech or exotic materials," said John Howell, a professor of physics at the University of Rochester....

Imagine that something is happening before your eyes, but you can’t see it — not because you have eye trouble or because it’s a microscopic event, but because of something like Harry Potter’s invisibility cloak. Two years ago, researchers from Cornell University made that fantasy come true, on a tiny scale. They not only hid the existence of a brief event — the movement of a light ray from one point to another — but also the fact that it had been hidden. One of the lead researchers on that study, Moti Friedman, is now setting up his own physics...

California congressman David Nunes made the claim yesterday that the Justice Department wiretapped telephones in the House of Representative's Cloak Room, an exclusive part of the Capitol where members are able to privately interact with one another. Nunes made the claim on Hugh Hewitt's radio show. "I don’t trust the Department of Justice on this," said Hewitt, referring to the subpoenas the Justice Department to obtain the Associated Press's phone records. "Do you, Congressman Nunes?" "No, I absolutely do not, especially after this wiretapping incident, essentially, of the House of Representative. I don’t think people are focusing on the right...

HH: The idea that this might be a Geithner-Axelrod plan, and by that, the sort of intimation, Henry II style, will no one rid me of this turbulent priest, will no one rid me of these turbulent Tea Parties, that might have just been a hint, a shift of an eyebrow, a change in the tone of voice. That’s going to take a long time to get to. I don’t trust the Department of Justice on this. Do you, Congressman Nunes? DN: No, I absolutely do not, especially after this wiretapping incident, essentially, of the House of Representative. I don’t...

That’s the revelation made by California Congressman Devin Nunes, who sits on the House Ways And Means Committee on Hugh Hewitt’s Show Wednesday night. Here’s the key part of that transcript: HH: The idea that this might be a Geithner-Axelrod plan, and by that, the sort of intimation, Henry II style, will no one rid me of this turbulent priest, will no one rid me of these turbulent Tea Parties, that might have just been a hint, a shift of an eyebrow, a change in the tone of voice. That’s going to take a long time to get to. I...

European researchers said Thursday they have created a device invisible to a static magnetic field that could have practical military and medical applications. Fedor Gomory and colleagues in Slovakia and Spain designed a cloak for a direct current, or dc, magnetic field that is static and produced by a permanent magnet or coil carrying a direct current. DC magnetic fields are used in MRI imaging devices, in hospitals and in security systems, such as those in airports. The researchers' device, described in a study in Friday's edition of the journal Science, features a cylinder with two concentric layers. While the...

In the mov­ie This is Spi­nal Tap, a less-than-cerebral rock gui­tar­ist, up­on view­ing a rec­ord-al­bum cov­er de­signed as sol­id black, de­liv­ers an im­promp­tu speech. “It’s like, how much more black could this be? And the an­swer is none,” he pro­claims. “None more black.” His in­ar­tic­u­lateness is matched, sad­ly, by an ig­no­rance of phys­ics. You can get much black­er than black card­board, which re­flects a good deal of light where­as true black re­flects none. Find­ing an ab­so­lutely black ob­ject on Earth, though, is as likely as en­coun­ter­ing the rock group of that 1982 film. Both are only fic­tions. On the oth­er...

AUSTIN — A former bartender at a Texas Capitol-area bar has sued her old employer, claiming she was fired because she refused to serve state Sen. John Whitmire when he was drunk. A top aide to Whitmire, D-Houston, said she was present that night at the Cloak Room and called the bartender's allegations about the senator a "complete fabrication." In her lawsuit, Rebekah L. Lear said she lost her job at the bar because she refused to serve Whitmire a second scotch on the night of March 8. Lear also alleges that Whitmire threatened to have her fired. Lear claims...

May 4, 2007 A computer model designed by a mathematician at the University of Liverpool has shown that it is possible to make objects, such as aeroplanes and submarines, appear invisible at close range. Scientists have already created an ‘invisibility cloak’ made out of ‘metamaterial’ which can bend electromagnetic radiation – such as visible light, radar or microwaves – around a spherical space, making an object within this region appear invisible. Until now, scientists could only make objects appear invisible from far away. Liverpool mathematician Dr Sébastien Guenneau, together with Dr Frédéric Zolla and Professors André Nicolet from the University...

Scientists say they have finally come up with a workable design for an invisibility cloak. Physicists figured out the complex mathematical equations for making objects invisible by bending light around them last year. Now a group of engineers at Purdue University in Indiana have used those calculations to design a relatively simple device that ought to be able to - one day soon - make objects as big as an aeroplane simply disappear.

The cloak is expected to fetch more than £40,000 The cloak worn by Sir Alec Guinness in Star Wars is among a collection of iconic film and television costumes set to go under the hammer.Sean Connery's dinner jacket from the Bond movie Thunderball and costumes from Harry Potter are also among the 350 lots to be auctioned at Bonhams. They are being sold by London-based costume maker Angels. Auctioneers expect the plain, brown robe of Guinness's character, Obi-Wan Kenobi, to fetch at least £40,000. But Guinness, who died in 2000, was not the only one to have worn the...

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is benefiting from millions of dollars raised by a network of tax-exempt groups without revealing that the money comes from major corporations with business before his office. The groups are run by Schwarzenegger's closest political allies, who also represent some of California's biggest interest groups. Unlike the governor's many campaign funds, the nonprofits are not required to disclose their contributors and can accept unlimited amounts. One group controlled by a powerful corporate consultant pays the $6,000-a-month rent on a Sacramento hotel suite used by the governor, who is a multimillionaire. Others have funded media events...

<p>Next-gen optical camouflage is busting out of defense labs and into the street. This is technology you have to see to believe.</p> <p>Invisibility has been on humanity's wish list at least since Amon-Ra, a diety who could disappear and reappear at will, joined the Egyptian pantheon in 2008 BC. With recent advances in optics and computing, however, this elusive goal is no longer purely imaginary. Last spring, Susumu Tachi, an engineering professor at the University of Tokyo, demonstrated a crude invisibility cloak. Through the clever application of some dirt-cheap technology, the Japanese inventor has brought personal invisibility a step closer to reality.</p>

Japanese scientist invents 'invisibility cloak' A Japanese scientist has developed a coat which appears to make the wearer invisible. The illusion was part of a demonstration of optical camouflage technology at Tokyo University. It is the brainchild of Professor Susumu Tachi who is in the early stage of research he hopes will eventually make camouflaged objects virtually transparent. The photograph was taken through a viewfinder that uses a combination of moving images taken behind the wearer to give a transparent effect. It's hoped the technology will be useful for surgeons frustrated their own hands and surgical tools can block their...