Invisibility cloak

Any Harry Potter fans out there? I had to say that. Obviously because its one of the only movies I can think of recently that has an invisibility cloak in it. In the movie it was magic, however, to Burkley's engineering team, it's a very real possibility. They managed to bend light in directions it does not naturally alter itself, to make a 3 dimensional prism vanish. Very little of the light was lost during bending, which is very important, because it results in high definition. It would look stupid if a giant ball of crinkled cellophane were floating around, because it would be obvious and really not that impressive, however, the vanished prism was no crinkled ball of cellophane. The possibilities are endless, especially when for military application. Colored camouflage is great for soldiers in the environment because they blend in. However if camouflage were distributed that resulted in vanishment of whatever it encases is a lot farther than just blending in. The technology involves nanowires that allow a form of negative refraction, Obviously the technology is complicated. What would the effect be if this was created? Guns were at one point high tech, now they can illegally be purchased on the street. Would an invisibility cloak have more pros or cons? It's a technology I would really like to see developed, especially for militant purposes but it could definitely have applications for assistance in breaking the law. You can look it up on timesonline.co.uk .. search for University of California scientists bend light to create the invisible

Polymers

I was really blown away by the facts in this article, but at the same time I have to admit I wasn't so surprised. It seems like everyday something new is found that harms the environment and will ultimately be the bane of our existence. It's pretty startling that there is that much plastic floating around the ocean with the potential of harming so much. At the same time however, what happens to all the walnut shells in exfoliating soaps? Walnut shell is practically wood. I know wood softens up and eventually breaks down but at the same time, if it were floating around in the ocean and birds were eating a ratio consistent with what 5 pounds would be to us, i'm sure that would kill them too. Short of us spending our days making only a point of the environments safety and tippy toeing around everything we do, we will never be in a position that's 100% satisfactory. While I do think efforts should be made to curb the amount of plastic we use that gets broken down, I think there are much bigger environmental problems we can invest our time, research, and money into.

Liquid spray on glass!

Ever since I was young, my cousin Chris and I were like two lab rats when we were left about our business at family parties. I still remember today the red work bench we would sit on in the storage room with a roll of tin foil, tape, rubber bands, and various other random supplies. About 15 years later, Chris and I are no different. Just the other day he sent me an article from the website Physorg.com. Physorg is basically a site dedicated to any form of science, be it natural or physical, and has all the hot news on the up and coming. Chris sent me an article titled, "Spray on liquid glass." Naturally I was extremely interested, clicked to the site and began to read. Spray on Natural glass constitutes the molecular build up of Silicon Dioxide. It isn't exactly what you are picturing, which is probably a sticky layer of thick plastic looking junk that would make a mess and have no real practical application aside from what you would find on an infomercial. Spray on glass is totally invisible, partly due to the fact that it is only 100 nanometers thick when one layer is sprayed. That is about 15-30 molecules stacked high, i.e. extremely freaking small. Anyway, this stuff can be used for just about anything you can imagine. Its like an invisible impenetrable shield. It is an extremely flexible, breathable, non toxic, water proof substance. Applications include: spraying on grape vines to protect them from fungus, spraying on plant seeds causing them to germinate extremely quickly, spraying counter tops and effectively halting the spread of bacteria due to properties that make it difficult for bacteria to multiply, spraying on a car to make an extremely protective paint job, or lightly spraying silk cloth protecting it from red wine stains completely. When sprayed on a sterile surface, the surface remained sterile without cleaning for 4 months, which is apparently much longer than usual. In a restaurant setting where you would have to bleach down a counter top after slicing meat, you would only need a wet hot washcloth to wipe the counter top down with. Spray on glass can be used in just about every possible setting. It was very recently invented and is starting out in the UK and Germany. It was invented in Turkey and patented by a German family who own a company called Nanopool. I know I've ranted on for a while but this is going to be a very big thing in a short time to come, it will probably be used on everything tangible. Check it out at physorg.com, even if you dont care about the spray on glass, I am absolutely positive you will find something here that you find interesting.