The Meta Prefix: Is There Anything It Cannot Do?
November 4, 2010 4:09 PM Subscribe
An Invisible Man with perfect vision sounds like a superhero from a comic, but may be close to reality thanks to scientists at the University of St Andrews. A team of physicists are one step closer to creating a Harry Potter-style invisibility cloak, with a new form of material that could also be attached to contact lenses to provide ‘perfect’ eyesight. Here comes the science.
So … what would it look like if you put some of this stuff on something? With classical "invisibility" you see right through the invisible object, but that doesn't seem to be what's being described here. Would it just be black, or what?
posted by kenko at 4:23 PM on November 4, 2010
posted by kenko at 4:23 PM on November 4, 2010
The worrying aspect is that it isn’t likely to stay solely in the hands of the good guys.
Or perhaps....
The worrying aspect is that there are no good guys.
posted by codacorolla at 4:28 PM on November 4, 2010 [2 favorites]
Or perhaps....
The worrying aspect is that there are no good guys.
posted by codacorolla at 4:28 PM on November 4, 2010 [2 favorites]
Using tiny atoms that can interact with light
this person is hereby barred from ever writing anything even vaguely related to science ever again
posted by ook at 4:29 PM on November 4, 2010 [14 favorites]
this person is hereby barred from ever writing anything even vaguely related to science ever again
posted by ook at 4:29 PM on November 4, 2010 [14 favorites]
And thus Invisible Cloak joins Flying Car as one of those things that is invented every year, announced with great fanfare, but does not catch on because it either doesn't really work or is not at all practical, or both.
posted by DU at 4:33 PM on November 4, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by DU at 4:33 PM on November 4, 2010 [2 favorites]
BUT THIS ONE IS MADE OF ATOMS
posted by synaesthetichaze at 4:34 PM on November 4, 2010 [14 favorites]
posted by synaesthetichaze at 4:34 PM on November 4, 2010 [14 favorites]
*Runs off to find spiral notebook from 4th grade*
*Finds page ripped out*
NOOOOOOOOOO!!!
posted by circular at 4:35 PM on November 4, 2010 [11 favorites]
*Finds page ripped out*
NOOOOOOOOOO!!!
posted by circular at 4:35 PM on November 4, 2010 [11 favorites]
And practical fusion, DU. That one's always 10-15 years away.
Invisibility is cool, but I'm more interested in the idea of "perfect" contacts or glasses. From the first link:
"Dr Di Falco commented, “Metamaterials give us the ultimate handle on manipulating the behaviour of light. The impact of our new material Meta-flex is ubiquitous. It could be possible to use Meta-flex for creating smart fabrics placed on disposable contact lenses to create superlenses that could further enhance vision. Typical lenses generally have some form of limitation, such as aberration or limited resolution, but these perfect lenses would have none of these deficiencies.”"
Could this be the basis for a revolution in optometry?
posted by Kevin Street at 4:39 PM on November 4, 2010
Invisibility is cool, but I'm more interested in the idea of "perfect" contacts or glasses. From the first link:
"Dr Di Falco commented, “Metamaterials give us the ultimate handle on manipulating the behaviour of light. The impact of our new material Meta-flex is ubiquitous. It could be possible to use Meta-flex for creating smart fabrics placed on disposable contact lenses to create superlenses that could further enhance vision. Typical lenses generally have some form of limitation, such as aberration or limited resolution, but these perfect lenses would have none of these deficiencies.”"
Could this be the basis for a revolution in optometry?
posted by Kevin Street at 4:39 PM on November 4, 2010
I think more scholarly works should preface the scientific explanation portions with "here comes the science."
And Harry Potter isn't the only guy with an invisibility cloak.
posted by filthy light thief at 4:42 PM on November 4, 2010
And Harry Potter isn't the only guy with an invisibility cloak.
posted by filthy light thief at 4:42 PM on November 4, 2010
And practical fusion, DU. That one's always 10-15 years away.
Invisibility is cool, but I'm more interested in the idea of "perfect" contacts or glasses. From the first link:
"Dr Di Falco commented, “Metamaterials give us the ultimate handle on manipulating the behaviour of light. The impact of our new material Meta-flex is ubiquitous. It could be possible to use Meta-flex for creating smart fabrics placed on disposable contact lenses to create superlenses that could further enhance vision. Typical lenses generally have some form of limitation, such as aberration or limited resolution, but these perfect lenses would have none of these deficiencies.”"
Could this be the basis for a revolution in optometry?
Yes but this is super-blue sky thinking and who knows when or if we'll see the real thing.
posted by grobstein at 4:42 PM on November 4, 2010
Invisibility is cool, but I'm more interested in the idea of "perfect" contacts or glasses. From the first link:
"Dr Di Falco commented, “Metamaterials give us the ultimate handle on manipulating the behaviour of light. The impact of our new material Meta-flex is ubiquitous. It could be possible to use Meta-flex for creating smart fabrics placed on disposable contact lenses to create superlenses that could further enhance vision. Typical lenses generally have some form of limitation, such as aberration or limited resolution, but these perfect lenses would have none of these deficiencies.”"
Could this be the basis for a revolution in optometry?
Yes but this is super-blue sky thinking and who knows when or if we'll see the real thing.
posted by grobstein at 4:42 PM on November 4, 2010
BUT THIS ONE IS MADE OF ATOMS
Not just atoms, but tiny atoms. I'm glad, because I'm tired of my old, visible cloaks made of such bulky atoms. I bet I could fit twice as many cloaks in my cloak closet, thanks to this new technology!
posted by filthy light thief at 4:43 PM on November 4, 2010 [3 favorites]
Not just atoms, but tiny atoms. I'm glad, because I'm tired of my old, visible cloaks made of such bulky atoms. I bet I could fit twice as many cloaks in my cloak closet, thanks to this new technology!
posted by filthy light thief at 4:43 PM on November 4, 2010 [3 favorites]
As usual the reporting gets way ahead of the actual science. What this team has done is recreate meta-material patterns on a flexible substrate that up to now could only be made on rigid substrates. They actually make the patterns on a rigid substrate but then dissolve an underlying layer to release the flexible part. It's a neat bit of fabrication.
They show some transmission spectra for the materials that to me simply show they block about 20% of the light over a wavelength of a couple of hundred nanometers. So for example if you were looking through a piece at a picture the greens in the picture would be a little dimmer than otherwise. I have no idea how this equates to invisibility.
posted by Long Way To Go at 4:49 PM on November 4, 2010
They show some transmission spectra for the materials that to me simply show they block about 20% of the light over a wavelength of a couple of hundred nanometers. So for example if you were looking through a piece at a picture the greens in the picture would be a little dimmer than otherwise. I have no idea how this equates to invisibility.
posted by Long Way To Go at 4:49 PM on November 4, 2010
I have no idea how this equates to invisibility.
It seems to equate to invisibility in the same way that, say, a baseball cap equates to anonymity.
posted by circular at 4:52 PM on November 4, 2010
It seems to equate to invisibility in the same way that, say, a baseball cap equates to anonymity.
posted by circular at 4:52 PM on November 4, 2010
From now on I will at all times carry a long telescoping rod and I will swing it around wildly in random patterns and stab empty places with it before entering any passwords or doing other secret/private stuff.
posted by Hairy Lobster at 4:53 PM on November 4, 2010 [4 favorites]
posted by Hairy Lobster at 4:53 PM on November 4, 2010 [4 favorites]
Practical fusion is never announced as being Here, unlike Flying Cars and Invisible Cloaks. Oh and Robot SextoysMaids.
posted by DU at 4:56 PM on November 4, 2010
posted by DU at 4:56 PM on November 4, 2010
So for example if you were looking through a piece at a picture the greens in the picture would be a little dimmer than otherwise.
It's more like a sunglasses Cloak then? Or a cheap thin polyester Halloween cloak, but with extra Science? I'm trying to imagine this thing, and it's not working. Either a thing is invisible or it's not -- although a Not Quite Invisible But Definitely Transparent Cloak could be entertaining.
posted by cmyk at 4:58 PM on November 4, 2010
It's more like a sunglasses Cloak then? Or a cheap thin polyester Halloween cloak, but with extra Science? I'm trying to imagine this thing, and it's not working. Either a thing is invisible or it's not -- although a Not Quite Invisible But Definitely Transparent Cloak could be entertaining.
posted by cmyk at 4:58 PM on November 4, 2010
An Invisible Man with perfect vision sounds like a superhero from a comic
Here's something that's been bugging me for a while. Invisibility is a canonical, top-shelf superpower, right? The classic question is "Flight or Invisibility?" not, say, "Flight or Pyrokinesis?". And yet, it seems like there's only one character in either the Marvel or DC universes that has invisibility as her primary power. Yes, Martian Manhunter can turn invisible but it's really far down the list (and I'm not sure he can do this in all his incarnations). Aside from Sue Storm, are there other marquee comic book characters who can turn invisible?
posted by mhum at 5:05 PM on November 4, 2010 [1 favorite]
Here's something that's been bugging me for a while. Invisibility is a canonical, top-shelf superpower, right? The classic question is "Flight or Invisibility?" not, say, "Flight or Pyrokinesis?". And yet, it seems like there's only one character in either the Marvel or DC universes that has invisibility as her primary power. Yes, Martian Manhunter can turn invisible but it's really far down the list (and I'm not sure he can do this in all his incarnations). Aside from Sue Storm, are there other marquee comic book characters who can turn invisible?
posted by mhum at 5:05 PM on November 4, 2010 [1 favorite]
How about the hero from Milo Manara's Butterscotch series?
posted by chavenet at 5:18 PM on November 4, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by chavenet at 5:18 PM on November 4, 2010 [1 favorite]
Even as far as Sue Storm is concerned, her bigger power is making invisible shields/bubbles.
Invisibility kind of sucks as a power because it has no offensive capabilities, and while it can help you avoid damage, once you're hit it doesn't do anything to help you there either.
Plus, unless you have a suit made out of unstable molecules you have to walk around naked, making it a better power for pervs then actual super heroes.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 5:22 PM on November 4, 2010
Invisibility kind of sucks as a power because it has no offensive capabilities, and while it can help you avoid damage, once you're hit it doesn't do anything to help you there either.
Plus, unless you have a suit made out of unstable molecules you have to walk around naked, making it a better power for pervs then actual super heroes.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 5:22 PM on November 4, 2010
Even Sue Storm has the force fields. Invisibility is kind of a sucky power in comics, since they usually have to draw the invisible character anyway (although maybe in a translucent form or with a broken line border) and the reader has to pretend that they look different from everyone else on the page. The only invisible character I've read in comics that really worked was Hawley Griffin from Moore and O'Neill's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
posted by Kevin Street at 5:26 PM on November 4, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by Kevin Street at 5:26 PM on November 4, 2010 [1 favorite]
Or what any portmanteau said, darnit.
posted by Kevin Street at 5:33 PM on November 4, 2010
posted by Kevin Street at 5:33 PM on November 4, 2010
Contact lenses with built in lights for seeing in the dark, heads up display on your retina, and automatically changing distance/far viewing. Working prototypes now, products within the decade. Meta now.
posted by caddis at 5:33 PM on November 4, 2010
posted by caddis at 5:33 PM on November 4, 2010
Going to be so sweet flying my cloaked Moller International M400X Skycar while wearing these meta-contact lenses.
posted by thylacine at 6:03 PM on November 4, 2010
posted by thylacine at 6:03 PM on November 4, 2010
The only invisible character I've read in comics that really worked was Hawley Griffin from Moore and O'Neill's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
O'Neils actually repeating a trick there from N'Kognito, an invisible alien in Nemesis the Warlock.
posted by Artw at 6:16 PM on November 4, 2010
O'Neils actually repeating a trick there from N'Kognito, an invisible alien in Nemesis the Warlock.
posted by Artw at 6:16 PM on November 4, 2010
I think that a contact lens with a HUD that talks to your phone is the only way that augmented reality could ever work.
Fuck the contact lens, actually, just get it LASIKed directly to the eye-ball.
posted by codacorolla at 6:25 PM on November 4, 2010
Fuck the contact lens, actually, just get it LASIKed directly to the eye-ball.
posted by codacorolla at 6:25 PM on November 4, 2010
Even as far as Sue Storm is concerned, her bigger power is making invisible shields/bubbles.
Which she didn't even get until FF #22, two years after her introduction.
I guess as Kevin Street and any portmanteau in a storm point out, invisibility is kind of a sucky power in isolation, at least for the action-oriented Marvel and DC comic books. It lends itself more to shenanigans than heroics (c.f. Milo Manara). And it's probably exactly this potential for shenaniganry that gives invisibility its hold on the popular imagination despite the lack of actual invisible superheroes.
Anyways, the real question isn't whether or not you'd want to have the power of invisibility. It's whether you'd want to live in a world where you and everybody else in the world could turn invisible.
posted by mhum at 6:46 PM on November 4, 2010
Which she didn't even get until FF #22, two years after her introduction.
I guess as Kevin Street and any portmanteau in a storm point out, invisibility is kind of a sucky power in isolation, at least for the action-oriented Marvel and DC comic books. It lends itself more to shenanigans than heroics (c.f. Milo Manara). And it's probably exactly this potential for shenaniganry that gives invisibility its hold on the popular imagination despite the lack of actual invisible superheroes.
Anyways, the real question isn't whether or not you'd want to have the power of invisibility. It's whether you'd want to live in a world where you and everybody else in the world could turn invisible.
posted by mhum at 6:46 PM on November 4, 2010
You guys are looking at this all wrong. This is great news for thiefs and assassins.
posted by P.o.B. at 6:55 PM on November 4, 2010
posted by P.o.B. at 6:55 PM on November 4, 2010
…a Harry Potter-style invisibility cloak…
So it runs on magic?
posted by smammy at 7:12 PM on November 4, 2010
So it runs on magic?
posted by smammy at 7:12 PM on November 4, 2010
And thus Invisible Cloak joins Flying Car as one of those things that is invented every year
Curiously, for the past few years, a great many of the breakthroughs in this field have come out of St Andrews, which has a fairly small physics department with no direct connections to a big national lab, ie. Fermilab/UChicago.
(I was a student there -- they also have some fantastic physics lecturers, which is a hell of a rarity, especially beyond the introductory level)
posted by schmod at 8:09 PM on November 4, 2010
Curiously, for the past few years, a great many of the breakthroughs in this field have come out of St Andrews, which has a fairly small physics department with no direct connections to a big national lab, ie. Fermilab/UChicago.
(I was a student there -- they also have some fantastic physics lecturers, which is a hell of a rarity, especially beyond the introductory level)
posted by schmod at 8:09 PM on November 4, 2010
And it's probably exactly this potential for shenaniganry that gives invisibility its hold on the popular imagination despite the lack of actual invisible superheroes.
Invisibility has been about shenaniganry since Plato's Republic. See also the oft quoted Penny Arcade cartoon.
posted by condour75 at 8:38 PM on November 4, 2010 [1 favorite]
Invisibility has been about shenaniganry since Plato's Republic. See also the oft quoted Penny Arcade cartoon.
posted by condour75 at 8:38 PM on November 4, 2010 [1 favorite]
And does anyone know what a meta-atom is? It doesn't google for shit and it sounds like star trek hand waving.
posted by condour75 at 8:42 PM on November 4, 2010
posted by condour75 at 8:42 PM on November 4, 2010
Aside from Sue Storm, are there other marquee comic book characters who can turn invisible?
If you consider DC's Legion of Superheroes a marquee comic book, the Invisible Kid has been pretty consistently in the top ten or so of their enormous roster of characters.
posted by straight at 9:29 PM on November 4, 2010
If you consider DC's Legion of Superheroes a marquee comic book, the Invisible Kid has been pretty consistently in the top ten or so of their enormous roster of characters.
posted by straight at 9:29 PM on November 4, 2010
Aside from Sue Storm, are there other marquee comic book characters who can turn invisible?
Depends on how you define marquee, comic book, and invisible.
The Invisible Man, H.G. Wells, 1897.
'Scientist' creates a 'formula' that changes the refractive index of objects to that of air, rendering him invisible. Having applied this formula to himself, side effect include: insanity; the inability to become visible again; the inability to bestow invisibility to clothing or other objects touching his invisible body, nor to objects inside his invisible body (eg. bullets, food in his digestive system). A bit awkward for superheroics.
The Shadow, Walter B. Gibson, 1931(print), 1937(radio).
On the radio, the Shadow had "the power to cloud men's minds so that they cannot see him" and also filters his voice so that radio listeners can hear him being invisible. In the pulps, he could make himself appear where he was not, eg. standing in front of a gunman while he was actually standing behind him. Good enough for most superheroics.
SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE GHOOOOOOOOOOOOOST!!! Alex Toth, 1966 (TV), 1968 (comics). Future-techno-magical total invisibility, including clothes, friends, spaceships, maybe planets. . . who knows?
.
posted by Herodios at 8:03 AM on November 5, 2010
Depends on how you define marquee, comic book, and invisible.
The Invisible Man, H.G. Wells, 1897.
'Scientist' creates a 'formula' that changes the refractive index of objects to that of air, rendering him invisible. Having applied this formula to himself, side effect include: insanity; the inability to become visible again; the inability to bestow invisibility to clothing or other objects touching his invisible body, nor to objects inside his invisible body (eg. bullets, food in his digestive system). A bit awkward for superheroics.
The Shadow, Walter B. Gibson, 1931(print), 1937(radio).
On the radio, the Shadow had "the power to cloud men's minds so that they cannot see him" and also filters his voice so that radio listeners can hear him being invisible. In the pulps, he could make himself appear where he was not, eg. standing in front of a gunman while he was actually standing behind him. Good enough for most superheroics.
SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE GHOOOOOOOOOOOOOST!!! Alex Toth, 1966 (TV), 1968 (comics). Future-techno-magical total invisibility, including clothes, friends, spaceships, maybe planets. . . who knows?
.
posted by Herodios at 8:03 AM on November 5, 2010
Or perhaps....
The worrying aspect is that there are no good guys
I'm not the only one that read that in my head in the voice of David Caruso from CSI: Miami putting on his sunglasses, right?
posted by alby at 9:48 AM on November 5, 2010
The worrying aspect is that there are no good guys
I'm not the only one that read that in my head in the voice of David Caruso from CSI: Miami putting on his sunglasses, right?
posted by alby at 9:48 AM on November 5, 2010
I often complain vocally about not having enough friends who are scientists. Scientists are the best friends! I only have one friend who is a scientist - he is a fairly high-up scientist (though I don't understand their obscure scientist ranking system) and I know he is a "materials scientist" of some caliber. I understand, from talking with him at the bar, that his work involves how light is reflected (refracted?) off of and/or through certain materials.
The first time this actually sunk into my ale-addled brain, I turned to him with wide eyes and gasped in a conspiratorial tone, "Invisibility cloaks?!"
He sighed and said, "No, no not that at all. Please don't say those words to me again." Apparently every non-scientist friend of his immediately jumps to this particular conclusion. But I can't help it, and every time we get a drink together, without fail, I sort of weasel the conversation around to the topic of invisibility cloaks. And he's gotten so he can kind of see it coming down the conversational pipeline and he'll stop me, frown pointedly, and change the subject.
Now I shall show my scientist friend this thing! I'm sure he will be pleased.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 10:07 AM on November 5, 2010 [2 favorites]
The first time this actually sunk into my ale-addled brain, I turned to him with wide eyes and gasped in a conspiratorial tone, "Invisibility cloaks?!"
He sighed and said, "No, no not that at all. Please don't say those words to me again." Apparently every non-scientist friend of his immediately jumps to this particular conclusion. But I can't help it, and every time we get a drink together, without fail, I sort of weasel the conversation around to the topic of invisibility cloaks. And he's gotten so he can kind of see it coming down the conversational pipeline and he'll stop me, frown pointedly, and change the subject.
Now I shall show my scientist friend this thing! I'm sure he will be pleased.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 10:07 AM on November 5, 2010 [2 favorites]
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