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Scientists Devise an Invisibility Cloak for Sound

news.duke.edu — Duke University engineers have found that a three-dimensional sound cloak is possible. Such an acoustic veil would do for sound what the "invisibility cloak" does for microwaves. "We've devised a recipe for an acoustic material that would essentially open up a hole in space and make something inside that hole disappear from sound waves,"

Who dugg this? Made popular Feb 18, 2008

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  • shitdigga, on 02/18/2008, -2/+62Dugg. When can they make one big enough for Britney?
  • piratesarefun, on 02/18/2008, -0/+31those submarines are gonna get run into by some confused dolphins
  • WordsnCollision, on 02/18/2008, -2/+32Takes "silent but deadly" to a whole new level, don't it?
  • thespudmall, on 02/18/2008, -1/+23You ***** know this is gonna be put all over submarines!
  • inactive, on 02/18/2008, -1/+21Can't wait to get one for the mother-in-law!
  • zite, on 02/18/2008, -1/+16I think you're looking for slashdot
  • Androfire, on 02/18/2008, -1/+16Solid Snake can use this...
  • Matt-lars, on 02/18/2008, -0/+12They're called Ninjas.
  • mattwalton56, on 02/18/2008, -1/+12Isn't sound already invisible?
  • tringtring, on 02/18/2008, -0/+11Did some research and figured that the metamaterials - the materials with special properties that will be used sound invisibility cloaking - exhibit negative refraction. This gets me a bit intrigued...negative refraction is defined as having a refractrive index that is negative...but how is negative refraction different from reflection?

    It appears that the negative refraction is what enables such an invisibility, so it will be interesting to know what exactly is negative refraction

    And while on that, if there could be cloaks for sound waves, why not for light waves....H.G. Wells, anyone?
  • sanman, on 02/18/2008, -5/+12just as long as they stop using that ***** high-energy sonar that kills the whales by chasing them out of the water. that ***** is cruel.
  • masterm1nd, on 02/18/2008, -0/+7It do!
  • BIGJHUB, on 02/18/2008, -2/+8AKA The Hillary Muzzle.
  • dinobot, on 02/18/2008, -0/+6Inaudibility?
  • Myztry, on 02/18/2008, -0/+5Unless you're one of those people with messed up sensory processing. They can apparently visualize sounds.
  • tirofiban, on 02/18/2008, -0/+5Didn't CONTROL have something similar to this in the 60s? I believe it was called the cone of silence.
  • sarixe, on 02/18/2008, -1/+6not like they have eyes or anything
  • TobyDumb, on 02/18/2008, -1/+5Scientists can develop a Invisibility Cloak for Sound but Apple can't figure out how to add Picture MMS Texting for my iPhone?

  • HiKevinRose, on 02/18/2008, -0/+4Mmm... I'm wondering if this could be useful for cloaking computer fans... I'm going to be building my own for the first time this year and I want it to look pretty, but not sound like a garbage disposal.
  • masterm1nd, on 02/18/2008, -3/+7Or, spoken like... a ***** human? Lives are going to die, are really sure it should be humans over whales???
  • grmclaren, on 02/18/2008, -0/+4I volunteer Dane Cook for permanent sound cloaking.
  • masterm1nd, on 02/18/2008, -0/+4And family guy writers too!
  • keeganspeck, on 02/18/2008, -0/+4The light wave invisibility cloak using metamaterials is where this took off, actually. I think it was around a year ago that a prototype was successfully made, but I don't remember the specifics. A google search would probably be fruitful. Anyway, it was for microwaves, and it essentially made the object invisible to one frequency of light at a time (hence it being invisible to microwaves). They mention the device in the article.
  • Boing, on 02/18/2008, -0/+3Invisible and sound just don't really mesh.
  • InitialDMP5, on 02/18/2008, -0/+3yes, I want this for my apartment, so I could play rock band and watch movies as loud as I want to. Also I live on a corner, so it would be great to block out that noise as well.
  • CaviMike, on 02/18/2008, -0/+3All these years of learning to tune out my girlfriend and now you guys get this. Whatever.
  • TheAkolyte, on 02/18/2008, -0/+3I dont think im ready to live in a world with invisibility.
  • arcadefun, on 02/18/2008, -0/+3Don't you think we should lower The Cone Of Silence Chief?
    Oh no Max, not The Cone Of Silence again!
  • nonym, on 02/18/2008, -0/+3Wake me up when I can stick one of these on my apartment's ceiling.
    Oh, right, I'll already be awake because my neighbor will have gotten out of bed.
  • pzwhite125, on 02/18/2008, -1/+4Somehow I expected the fart joke to have more diggs than the Britney joke.
  • sarixe, on 02/18/2008, -0/+3need i remind you that everything travels into the future at a constant pace? (unless you want to go into some freaky physics...)
  • brummers, on 02/18/2008, -0/+3Submarines rarely use active sonar, and when they do, its at the lowest possible power. It is the surface ships looking for subs that pump massive amounts of energy into the water.
  • keerf, on 02/18/2008, -0/+2Truly, useless without the UAV Jammer perk.
  • jhshukla, on 02/18/2008, -0/+2don't worry. we will release those new laser-headed sharks.
  • Tiak, on 02/18/2008, -0/+2First they develop a method to get around radar then sonar... Gee... I wonder what could ever be guiding these projects.
  • Accolade1, on 02/18/2008, -0/+2Enabling Dead Silence perk.
  • masterm1nd, on 02/18/2008, -0/+2Probably impractical for a long time.
  • megaton, on 02/18/2008, -0/+2They're holding it ransom. Soon as You Stop Capitalizing random Words, they'll Let it Free.
  • ZephyrNinety, on 02/18/2008, -1/+3Steve Cummer. Enough said.
  • Viper323, on 02/18/2008, -0/+2Last time I checked sound wasn't visible anyways...
  • Zaggynl, on 02/18/2008, -0/+2LEAVE BRI *silence*
  • sockpuppets, on 02/19/2008, -0/+1I hear dead people.
  • gak001, on 02/18/2008, -0/+1That's why all those movies about submarines are inaccurate - it would be ridiculous to sustain active sonar as it would essentially be putting up a big sign with flashing lights saying "I'm over here!!!"
  • ciphex, on 02/18/2008, -0/+1this is pretty damn incredible stuff. it's amazing to see the impressive research that comes out of North Carolina Universities.
  • mhearne, on 02/18/2008, -0/+1Negative refraction? Is this why we could never see the Invisible Man's dinner floating around the room?
  • 2oonhed, on 02/19/2008, -0/+1that was "very intresting" in a made up german accent......which makes you correct, my comment made no sense as I am neither German nor did I understand what you said.....but it was EEN-tla-stink.....sound it out.
  • bencefeher, on 02/18/2008, -0/+1As long as you aren't using Martyrdom.
  • portos12, on 06/16/2008, -0/+1Can they make three-dimensional sound cloak with iPod?
    http://www.bestipodtips.info
  • undershirt, on 02/18/2008, -0/+1Cloak- allows waves to pass through undisturbed
    Blackhole- doesn't allow anything to pass through
  • Myztry, on 02/18/2008, -0/+1Either way, it would help keep the computer warm :)
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