At first I was stunned by this one. At the U of Tokyo they are developing this technology and calling it "optical camoflage". This is their first shot at it, and at first you think, whoa - I can't possibly see what I'm seeing, because imagine what they would have to do to accomplish this... bending light in ways that you'd think impossible.
The caption gives it away: you are looking at this guy's suit through a special viewfinder. They are taking shots of what's behind him and basically displaying it on his suit.
OK, not as interesting as it might have been. It's not true camoflage if the viewer has to have a special eyepiece or something, right?
But they suggest that the technology could be used to create, for example, surgical tools that are partly transparent, or cockpit flooring that you can see through for landings. Now it makes a little more sense.
02-05-2003, 11:38 AM
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