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Invisibility Cloaks May Shield Buildings From Earthquakes

inhabitat.com — Stefan Enoch and his team at the Fresnel Institute in Marseilles, France have been studying other applications for the physics behind invisibility cloaks. The result of their research is an “earthquake cloak” that could render objects “invisible” to shocks, storm waves or tsunamis.

Who dugg this? Made popular Jun 30, 2009

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47 Comments

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  • pinguz, on 06/30/2009, -3/+35what
  • DeusAbsconditus, on 06/30/2009, -0/+29Earthquakes only attack if they can see you!
  • mleaman, on 06/30/2009, -0/+19So invisibility cloak = force field
  • bridgesteffen, on 06/30/2009, -1/+19i'm adding invisibility cloak to my wish list for christmas
  • DrDragun, on 06/30/2009, -0/+16Levitation and Invincibility Cloaks would also work
  • EddiePotato, on 06/30/2009, -0/+16And if they do, just play dead and they'll lose interest after a while.
  • swyyne, on 06/30/2009, -1/+17Okay, I lied, I was only a level 2 mage.
  • imkookoo, on 06/30/2009, -0/+13The day they invent invisible condoms is the day the teenage pregnancy rate will triple.

    "You're wearing a condom right?"
    "Umm, suuuuurrre..."
  • Taiyoryu, on 06/30/2009, -0/+11They put a plastic ring around a building so that the surface wave from the earthquake takes the path of least resistance, causing it to go around the building rather than under it, subsequently leaving the building undamaged.

  • inactive, on 06/30/2009, -2/+13They need to start building stuff in Southern California using this.
  • Breyker4711, on 06/30/2009, -1/+11Birthday list:
    1) Invisibility cloak
    2) Canon Digital Rebel
    3) Bag of holding
  • hughesj919, on 06/30/2009, -0/+9
  • vacuum2440, on 06/30/2009, -0/+7ok this is so dumb how they compare this to an "invisibility cloak" like c'mon its basically just an engineered solution to help prevent damage from earthquakes... not a damn invisibility trick
  • marcb83, on 06/30/2009, -0/+6Terrible tittle, terrible story, interesting science.
  • krispykreams, on 06/30/2009, -1/+6Or you can take the simpler approach and design structures out of materials that do not resonate at the same or close frequencies, which is what actually causes buildings to break down.
  • Barackalypse, on 06/30/2009, -0/+5Calling this an "invisibility cloak" is what happens when you add marketing buzz to dumbed down science. This doesn't make the building "invisible" to earthquakes, it simply makes the earthquakes shock waves bypass them, much like a lightning rod (and associated conductors) directs the path of electricity that hits it.
  • shanepayne, on 06/30/2009, -3/+7Could this technology eventually be applied to condoms? So one could last longer? Just a thought.
  • digitalhoodie, on 06/30/2009, -0/+4I put on my invisibility cloak and wizard hat...
  • kubedawg, on 06/30/2009, -0/+4What, you've never heard of the term before watching the Harry Potter movies? You must live a sheltered life...
  • zephc, on 06/30/2009, -1/+5Ha ha! I'm wearing an invisibility cloak, thereby rendering your aluminum baseball bat ineffective!
  • inactive, on 06/30/2009, -2/+6What the
  • SirBruce, on 06/30/2009, -1/+4SCIENCE!
  • solid12345, on 06/30/2009, -0/+3The French are all about discovering new ways to flee or hide from scary forces.
  • dumass4u, on 06/30/2009, -1/+4Did Zeddicus "Zedd" Zu'l Zorander The Wizard make come up with this? What the hell.
  • inactive, on 07/01/2009, -0/+3Let me know when ANYTHING from inhabitat.com becomes reality. I'm still waiting for my floating cities, pyramid cities of 1million people in the desert (aka arcologies), ships with 18 hole golf courses, planes with 18 hole golf courses, skyfarms, funky looking wind turbines on every roof, retardedly shaped sky scrapers that piss in the face of efficient design and space utilisation, hybrid retarded looking electric vehicles that piss in the face of efficient design and space utilisation, retarded looking houses that piss in the face of efficient design... and space utilisation. oh and sealab 2020/1
  • drmangrum, on 06/30/2009, -0/+3Those pesky earthquakes will never find our sneaky buildings!
  • trickyt, on 06/30/2009, -1/+4That's one way to weed out the poor buildings.
  • RiotHeart, on 06/30/2009, -0/+2If I close my eyes, they won't see me
  • GreenDragon78, on 06/30/2009, -0/+2The headline made me think of kids with hands over their eyes yelling, "You can't see me!".
  • verkon, on 06/30/2009, -0/+2***** if it doesn't shield from quakes, just a regular invisibility cloak would be ass-kicking either way
  • QubitTarutaru, on 07/01/2009, -0/+2I wonder if earthquake waves can be refracted to create a single focal point. *evil grin*
  • CoD4, on 06/30/2009, -0/+2Viral for Killzone 3?
  • Moralogic, on 07/01/2009, -0/+2No, it has to pass California's earthquake tests first, just like the concrete that last 150 years.
  • Okinsley, on 06/30/2009, -0/+2ok i didn't read the article, but judging from the title, how the ***** is a invisibility cloak gonna save you from earthquakes?
  • Onethirtytwo, on 06/30/2009, -0/+2That is ***** insane.
  • ASSASSYN360, on 06/30/2009, -0/+2"Wizard -- shot the food!"
  • cjlesiw, on 07/29/2009, -0/+1"...have been studying other applications for the physics behind invisibility cloaks."

    This sentence worries me. How can you study the "physics" of something that doesn't actually exist?
    Also, who refers to a supposed scientific breakthrough as "magical rings"?
    How the ***** are these people getting funded?

    Buried, much like my hopes for getting a clarification on that godawful title.
  • tsmallm, on 06/30/2009, -1/+2what a stupid ***** title.
  • hackiavelli, on 07/01/2009, -0/+1The article will not help you with that question.
  • hackiavelli, on 07/01/2009, -0/+1This has to be the poster boy for badly written science articles.
  • gcnaddict, on 07/01/2009, -0/+1I don't see what you did there.
  • Moralogic, on 07/01/2009, -1/+1And then you can act like invisibility is why the girls show no interest in you.
  • AmnesiacJack, on 06/30/2009, -5/+5LOL France.
  • apmtt, on 07/01/2009, -0/+0Yeah but that's how invisibility cloaks are supposed to work as well.
  • heyimfromreddit, on 06/30/2009, -2/+2Very true.
  • Sargel, on 06/30/2009, -1/+0It's same idea as invisibility cloaks. It redirects the energy around a structure. Which is similar to redirecting light around an object using metamaterials, thus rendering the object invisible.
  • simbelmyrne, on 06/30/2009, -8/+2Dugg for Harry Potter reference, intentional or no.

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