INVISIBILITE 3i
can then be moved up and down each slot, thereby making an atomic
abacus.
It is also possible to carve atomic devices using electron beams.
For example, scientists at Cornell University have made the world's
smallest guitar, one that is twenty times smaller than a human hair,
carved out of crystalline silicon. It has six strings, each one hundred
atoms thick, and the strings can be plucked using an atomic force microscope. (This guitar will actually play music, but the frequencies it
produces are well above the range of the human ear.)
At present, most of these nanotech "machines" are mere toys. More
complicated machines with gears and ball bearings have yet to be created. But many engineers feel confident that the time is coming when
we will be able to produce true atomic machines. (Atomic machines
are actually found in nature. Cells can swim freely in water because
they can wiggle tiny hairs. But when one analyzes the joint between
the hair and the cell, one sees that it is actually an atomic machine that
allows the hair to move in all directions. So one key to developing
nanotechnology is to copy nature, which mastered the art of atomic
machines billions of years ago.)
HOLOGRAMS AND
INVISIBILITY
Another way to render a person partially invisible is to photograph the
scenery behind a person and then project that background image directly onto the person's clothes or onto a screen in front of him. As
seen from the front, it appears as if the person has become transparent, that light has somehow passed right through the person's body.
Naoki Rawakami, of the Tachi Laboratory at the University of
Tokyo, has been hard at work on this process, which is called "optical
camouflage." He says, "It would be used to help pilots see through the
floor of the cockpit at a runway below, or for drivers trying to see
through a fender to park a car." Rawakami's "cloak" is covered with
tiny light-reflective beads that act like a movie screen. A video camera
photographs what is behind the cloak. Then this image is fed into a
can then be moved up and down each slot, thereby making an atomic
abacus.
It is also possible to carve atomic devices using electron beams.
For example, scientists at Cornell University have made the world's
smallest guitar, one that is twenty times smaller than a human hair,
carved out of crystalline silicon. It has six strings, each one hundred
atoms thick, and the strings can be plucked using an atomic force microscope. (This guitar will actually play music, but the frequencies it
produces are well above the range of the human ear.)
At present, most of these nanotech "machines" are mere toys. More
complicated machines with gears and ball bearings have yet to be created. But many engineers feel confident that the time is coming when
we will be able to produce true atomic machines. (Atomic machines
are actually found in nature. Cells can swim freely in water because
they can wiggle tiny hairs. But when one analyzes the joint between
the hair and the cell, one sees that it is actually an atomic machine that
allows the hair to move in all directions. So one key to developing
nanotechnology is to copy nature, which mastered the art of atomic
machines billions of years ago.)
HOLOGRAMS AND
INVISIBILITY
Another way to render a person partially invisible is to photograph the
scenery behind a person and then project that background image directly onto the person's clothes or onto a screen in front of him. As
seen from the front, it appears as if the person has become transparent, that light has somehow passed right through the person's body.
Naoki Rawakami, of the Tachi Laboratory at the University of
Tokyo, has been hard at work on this process, which is called "optical
camouflage." He says, "It would be used to help pilots see through the
floor of the cockpit at a runway below, or for drivers trying to see
through a fender to park a car." Rawakami's "cloak" is covered with
tiny light-reflective beads that act like a movie screen. A video camera
photographs what is behind the cloak. Then this image is fed into a