Invisibility: The Science of Over the Edge

According to Richard Alleyne, science correspondent for the UK Telegraph, scientists are very close to hiding stuff behind a screen of manipulated electromagnetic radiation. The technique is called "transformation optics" and uses a "superscatterer" to create an optical illusion. The superscatterer forces light and other forms of electromagnetic radiation into complicated directions to hide things--like Platform 9 3/4. In the Harry Potter series Platform 9 1/2 is hidden through the use of magic, but as Arthur C. Clarke wrote in Profiles of the Future:

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

What these scientists are after is a "gateway that can block electromagnetic waves but that allows the passage of other entities." The present breakthrough has achieved a broader bandwidth and "has the added advantage of being able to be switched on and off remotely." Dr. Huanyang Chen said, "people standing outside the gateway would see something like a mirror."

In Over the Edge small surveillance cameras equipped with hover mechanisms use projected images to hide the device. Looks like we're close to having the ability to hide things in plain sight--now we just need efficient hover technology.

Invisible Doorways or Portals A Step Closer to Reality

Mercedes-Benz turned one of their vehicles invisible for a promotional stunt. In Over the Edge miniaturized cameras and screens accomplish the same thing making an object completely invisible on all sides. Read more about the Mercedes-Benz promotion and watch a video here:
Invisible Mercedes Brings James Bond Technology to Life

Hide in Plain Light: The Science of Over the Edge

Scientific American reports, "Mere months after making a technologically feasible proposal, researchers have demonstrated a rudimentary example of an invisibility cloak." The object is made of metal and wires embedded in fiberglass, it makes light act weird. David Schurig and David Smith of Duke University, along with other colleagues, designed concentric rings of the "metamaterial" that bend microwave radiation around the innermost ring, "like water flowing around a stone."

Schurig says, "We've reduced both the reflection and the shadow generated by the object, and those are two essential features of the invisibility cloaking." See Science, November 10th issue for more details. "Getting the technology up and running was easier than they anticipated, the researchers say, but don't expect Harry Potter's cloak anytime soon," page 28, Scientific American, January 2007 issue.

Minan Chameleon Battle Skin--maybe not too far off.

Update, December 2011:

"Defense contractor BAE Systems field-tested an invisibility cloak in July that can make a tank look like a car, a boulder, or even a cow. Onboard infrared cameras scan the surrounding scene, and thermal tiles covering the tank display that imagery, causing the vehicle to blend in with its environment," The Year in Science, Discover, 100 Top Stories of 2011, page 47.

This technology is the very similar to the fictional technology described in Over the Edge: The Beginning, the first volume of the series published in 2004. The series is presently being rewritten in order to reboot with a new publisher.

Stealth coatings: The science of "Over the Edge"

Fans of Over the Edge know about Minan Chameleon Battle Skin--well it's about to become a reality. Researchers at New Mexico State University are working on aircraft coatings that "deflect radio waves, thus making them invisible to electronic tracking devices, but still visible to the human eye," says the New Mexico State University magazine "Research."

In the spring 2005 edition of the magazine "Research" also reported collaborators at Wake Forest University and the University of Florida were working on nanotechnology to "develop intelligent coatings that will enable aircraft to change colors like a chameleon to blend in with the background..." These researchers are also working on a coating that will bend light in such a manner that will make it difficult to see objects covered in the coating.

geosynchronous orbital satellites were first conceived by a master science fiction writer. So, hey...we'll see what else develops.