Real Life Invisibility Cloak?

COOL.

(Okay, okay. It’s not a complete invisibility cloak, but still. . . .)

Author: Jimmy Akin

Jimmy was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith, and in 1992 he entered the Catholic Church. His conversion story, "A Triumph and a Tragedy," is published in Surprised by Truth. Besides being an author, Jimmy is the Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a contributing editor to Catholic Answers Magazine, and a weekly guest on "Catholic Answers Live."

41 thoughts on “Real Life Invisibility Cloak?”

  1. Jimmy, I’d tell you what a sci-fi geek you are but my baseball card collection tells me I should keep my mouth shut.

  5. I thought I had seen some videos of this before (thought I got it from this blog actually). Maybe there are some out on YouTube.
    Happy Easter!

  7. CHICAGO (AFP) – Harry Potter fans take note: scientists have finally come up with a workable design for an invisibility cloak.
    Harry Potter?
    If you will forgive my ignorance for all things mythical, but didn’t that Lord of the Rings character from the Movie “Return of the King” also have a similar cloak?

  8. “…didn’t that Lord of the Rings character from the Movie “Return of the King” also have a similar cloak?”
    But elvish cloaks only blend in with things. They don’t make things disappear.

  9. But elvish cloaks only blend in with things. They don’t make things disappear.
    As I said, my ignorance for all things mythical.

  10. I will now demonstrate my invisibility cloak (I’ve had one for years, but no one saw it.) Ready? Here goes, 1, 2,
    .
    .
    .
    .
    .
    .
    Pretty cool, eh?

  12. Well, you know the number of unsolved crimes will go up if this ever gets into the mainstream, right?
    “I didn’t see anyone kill him – a gun levitated in the air and shot him.”
    “I didn’t see anyone steal it. It just disappeared.”
    🙂

  15. Why they chose a Harry Potter lede is beyond me. Why not Predator? Or, heck, they’re talking about objects “as big as an airplane,” so why not mention Wonder Woman?
    And then, there’s this:
    Physicists figured out the complex mathematical equations for making objects invisible by bending light around them last year.
    Of course, the implication being (or perhaps just the inference I’m drawing) that, as brilliant as that initial work was LAST YEAR, we in the mainstream media didn’t cover it because, well, we don’t read those nerdy scientific journals and we can’t see a use for it ’til someone compares it to Harry Potter.

  16. Er … uh, I was talking about Wonder Woman’s invisible jet … not saying that Wonder Woman is as big as an airplane. Unless they discovered the mathematical equations necessary for small, man-sized jets back in 2005 or something. Which is possible, but it won’t hit the news ’til someone claims it’s like Harry Potter’s broomstick.
    …
    Oh, just forget I said anything.

  18. Invisibility cloak is worthless:
    You can’t see if you are in it, because all the light goes around you and not to your eye.

  21. Invisibility cloak is worthless:
    You can’t see if you are in it, because all the light goes around you and not to your eye.
    ~ Esperanto Christopher
    Now THERE’S a thought!

  22. Esperanto Christopher,
    I *think* that you might be wrong. The reflecting lining, as far as I can tell, would only be on one side. But then there’s the problem of ensuring that one never reveals the wrong side.

  23. When they first announced the stealth bomber as invisible, I surmised they hadn’t got anything of the sort but were just kidding that they had one.

  24. Doesn’t anyone remember when that Klingon ship landed in San Francisco? You know, with the whales? And the transparent aluminum? And the nuclear wessels?

  26. Parish Secretary:
    “The clown is back but this time he says he’s invisible.”
    Priest:
    “Tell him I can’t see him right now.”

  29. Doesn’t anyone remember when that Klingon ship landed in San Francisco?
    Totally unrealistic. Everyone knows that if you try to cloak something on the surface of a planet, especially using 23rd century tech, visual distortion effects would give it away.

  31. Great. Nudists and impurists will have a field day.Now we can sneak into womens or mens dressing rooms and have adulterous fun anytime we want.
    St. Maria Goretti pray for us.

  32. The Creed says:
    Credo in unum Deum; Patrem omnipotentem, factorem coeli et terrae, visibilium omnium et invisibilium.
    Invisibilium is usually translated as unseen.
    I seem to recall a blog comment where Father Peter Stravinskas explained the difference to Cardinal Arinze. “let me give you an example. If I hid under the table I’m unseen, but I’m not invisible.He [Arinze] howled with laughter. He has said since then that every time he says Mass in English he finds himself smirking at that point in the Mass.”

  34. No.
    I am sorry but that video is stupid. We do not see in microwaves and thus do not directly engage our intellects to detect things using them.
    It is one thing to be invisible to microwaves it is another to be invisible to natural light while standing in front of the Mona Lisa. The whole idea of an invisibility cloak is that you are trying to fool the average human brain and not a microwave detector. Completely different. Duke fails again.
    As far as the cloak that started this post is concerned, right now it only works on one wavelength. Call me when it works in full color.
    But before that happens, I have to hurry up and send a blank sheet of paper into the Patent Office and claim this invention as my own.

  35. This is definitely more sci-fi than fantasy, so I don’t fully approve of the Harry Potter comparison.
    Also Esau’s mention of the Lorien cloaks might not be far off. While its more that the cloaks appeared different colors based on where they are still the end result is probably more like what these cloaks would do. I’m sure all this light bending won’t make the person truely invisible, it will just be camouflage that changes to better match whatever is behind you
    I wonder though if the specific mention of airplanes is because such a material could make distant planes virtually invisible against a uniform white or blue sky (because of the simplicity of the background)
    And yes I doubt you could wrap it entirely around you and still see. I’m not sure if you would see blackness or something similar to what’s behind you.

  36. “I’m sure all this light bending won’t make the person truely invisible, ”
    It might be like the movie ‘Predator’. If Predator remained still, you couldn’t see him. However, whenever he moved, one could barely make out his shape.

  38. J.R. Stoodley:
    Also Esau’s mention of the Lorien cloaks might not be far off.
    Thanks for the info! I didn’t quite know what they were actually called!
    Fr. Stephanos:
    Joseph and his Amazing Real Life Invisibility Cloak?
    But, since it involves an advanced scientific gadget, not only can this biblical story be made into a musical, but (I guess) a sci-fi story as well!

  39. Esau, it’s also been made into a western by Veggie Tales, don’t forget! A musical western at that. A ‘must-see’ as I’m sure SDG will agree.

  40. Esau, it’s also been made into a western by Veggie Tales, don’t forget!
    You’ve got to be kidding! WoW! <=^)

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