Screen to reality!

How many times have we wished for something shown in a movie like Star Trek, Harry Potter which comes to the rescue when the lead of the movie is in a situation?
I remember reading in Hindu about a real time project on Transporter. Wondering what a Transporter is? Well its the machine used in Star Trek to transform a person from one place to another in split seconds. I felt amazed to read that such things are coming to real life. Scientist say it is posible to transport a person or object from one place to another by converting (dematerialization) them into a energy pattern, beam them to the target and reconvert(materialization) back to matter. This method is called teleportation. It is told that with the current technology advancement it is conceivable for elementary particles which does not have any sub structure. There is an allegation of teleportation, dating way back on October 24, 1593. Where a person called Gil Perez was supposedly teleported from Manila, Philippines to Plaza Mayor, Mexico City.

The latest news which attracted me to this subject is this. According to this article three scientist have told that they have developed a blue print of an "Invisible Cloak or Fabric" just as shown in Harry Potter. It is reported that their blue print is to make physical objects appear as though they have disappeared when they are covered with the fabric. The primary component to make the invisible fabric is an artificial composite called metamaterials.

Smith, along with Duke's Pratt School doctorial candidate David Schurig, and Imperial College London's John Pendry, presented the theoretical papers, on Thursday. It appeared in Science Express, an online science journal. The United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) supported the work.

"The ability to hide or conceal things electromagnetically is a method used to design electromagnetic structures," Smith said. "We've been working on the project for about one year, and would have only been considered practical recently. It's been made possible by metamaterials because it can literally transform space, which is difficult to do with conventional material."

In theory, electromagnetic waves would flow around the object covered by the metamaterials similar to water in a river flowing around a smooth rock. The material would act as though a hole opened in space, and light or other electromagnetic waves were swept around the physical object to emerge on the other side as if materials had passed through empty space, Smith said.

News Courtesy: InformationWeek

Varta...