(Press-News.org) Flexible smart materials that can manipulate light to shield objects from view have been much-theorised but now researchers in Scotland have made a practical breakthrough that brings the possibility of an invisibility cardigan – or any other item of invisibility clothing - one step closer.
Two challenges to the creation of smart flexible materials that can cloak from visible light are making meta-atoms small enough to interact with visible light, and the fabrication of metamaterials that can be detached from the hard surfaces they are developed on to be used in more flexible constructs.
Research published today, Thursday 4 November 2010, in New Journal of Physics (co-owned by the Institute of Physics and German Physical Society), details how Meta-flex, a new material designed by researchers from the University of St Andrews, overcomes both of these challenges.
Although cloaks designed to shield objects from both Terahertz and Near Infrared waves have already been designed, a flexible material designed to cloak objects from visible light poses a greater challenge because of visible light's smaller wavelength and the need to make the metamaterial's constituent part – meta-atoms – small enough to interact with visible light.
These tiny meta-atoms have been designed but they have only traditionally been realized on flat, hard surfaces, making them rigid constructs impractical for use in clothing or other possible applications that would benefit from flexibility, such as super lenses.
The research team, led by EPSRC Career Acceleration Fellow Dr Andrea Di Falco, has developed an elaborate technique which frees the meta-atoms from the hard surface ('substrate') they are constructed on. The researchers predict that stacking them together can create an independent, flexible material, which can be adopted for use in a wide range of applications.
Di Falco says, "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 and, in the paper, we show how easy it is to place Meta-flex on disposable contact lenses, showing how flexible superlenses could be used for visual prostheses."
INFORMATION:
The researchers' paper can be downloaded for free from Thursday 4 November 2010 here: http://iopscience.iop.org/1367-2630/12/11/113006/fulltext
Meta-flex: Your new brand for invisibility clothing
2010-11-04
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Recombination hotspot stacks the DNA deck in finding a new diabetes susceptibility gene
2010-11-04
November 4, 2010 – The autoimmune disease type 1 diabetes (T1D), also known as juvenile diabetes, is diagnosed in approximately 70,000 children worldwide per year. Genetics is increasingly being recognized as playing a significant role in susceptibility to the disorder, but outside a handful of genes, a clear understanding of the genetic architecture that underlies T1D has remained elusive. In a study published online today in Genome Research (www.genome.org), scientists have identified a novel gene associated with diabetes in mice that is revealing new clues about genomic ...
New compounds may treat both alcohol and cigarette addictions
2010-11-04
Researchers at the Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center at the University of California, San Francisco, and Pfizer Inc., have determined that two new compounds may be effective in treating both alcohol and nicotine dependence at the same time.
In a paper published in the November 3, 2010 issue of Neuropsychopharmacology, the researchers showed that alcohol consumption in rodents was significantly decreased by two compounds that target neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) subtype 34*.
nAChRs are proteins found in the brain and broader ...
Moving holograms: From science fiction to reality
2010-11-04
Remember the Star Wars scene in which R2D2 projects a three-dimensional image of a troubled Princess Leia delivering a call for help to Luke Skywalker and his allies? What used to be science fiction is now close to becoming reality thanks to a breakthrough in 3D holographic imaging technology developed at the University of Arizona College of Optical Sciences.
A team led by optical sciences professor Nasser Peyghambarian developed a new type of holographic telepresence that allows the projection of a three-dimensional, moving image without the need for special eyewear ...
Gladstone scientists identify process by which Alzheimer's disease creeps through the brain
2010-11-04
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – November 3, 2010—Scientists at the Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease (GIND) have offered new information about the events that underlie the "spread" of Alzheimer's disease (AD) throughout the brain. The research, published in the November 4th issue of the journal Neuron, follows disease progression from a vulnerable brain region that is affected early in the disease to interconnected brain regions that are affected in later stages. The findings may contribute to design of therapeutic interventions, as targeting the brain region where AD originates ...
UCLA autism study reveals how genetic changes rewire the brain
2010-11-04
Many gene variants have been linked to autism, but how do these subtle changes alter the brain, and ultimately, behavior?
Using a blend of brain imaging and genetic detective work, scientists at UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine and Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior are the first to illustrate how genetic variants rewire the brain. Published in the Nov. 3 online edition of Science Translational Medicine, their discovery offers the crucial missing physical evidence that links altered genes to modified brain function and learning.
"This is a key ...
MIT chemists engineer plants to produce new drugs
2010-11-04
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Humans have long taken advantage of the huge variety of medicinal compounds produced by plants. Now MIT chemists have found a new way to expand plants' pharmaceutical repertoire by genetically engineering them to produce unnatural variants of their usual products.
The researchers, led by Associate Professor Sarah O'Connor, have added bacterial genes to the periwinkle plant, enabling it to attach halogens such as chlorine or bromine to a class of compounds called alkaloids that the plant normally produces. Many alkaloids have pharmaceutical properties, ...
Damage to prefrontal cortex compensated by intact areas, showing flexible nature of memory
2010-11-04
Brain research over the past 30 years has shown that if a part of the brain controlling movement or sensation or language is lost because of a stroke or injury, other parts of the brain can take over the lost function – often as well as the region that was lost.
New research at the University of California, Berkeley, shows that this holds true for memory and attention as well, though – at least for memory – the intact brain helps out only when needed and conducts business as usual when it's not.
These results support the hypothesis that memory is not stored in one place, ...
The emergence of holographic video
2010-11-04
Researchers at the University of Arizona (UA), Tucson, have developed a holographic system that can transmit a series of 3D images in near-real-time, a precursor to holographic videoconferencing.
The system incorporates a novel, photorefractive polymer--one that can rapidly refresh holographic images and is scalable for production--coupled to a unique system for recording and transmitting 3D images of individuals and objects via Ethernet.
Lead author Pierre-Alexandre Blanche and his colleagues from the university and Nitto Denko Technical Corp. of Oceanside, Calif., ...
Study reveals why brain has limited capacity for repair after stroke, IDs new drug target
2010-11-04
Stroke is the leading cause of adult disability, due to the brain's limited capacity for recovery. Physical rehabilitation is the only current treatment following a stroke, and there are no medications available to help promote neurological recovery.
Now, a new UCLA study published in the Nov. 11 issue of the journal Nature offers insights into a major limitation in the brain's ability to recover function after a stroke and identifies a promising medical therapy to help overcome this limitation.
Researchers interested in how the brain repairs itself already know ...
UBC researchers shine light on congenital heart disease 'hot spots' using Canadian Light Source
2010-11-04
Using the Canadian Light Source synchrotron and the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource, a team of researchers from the University of British Columbia has shed light on the ryanodine receptor, a structure within muscle cells that has been linked to life-threatening congenital heart conditions.
The findings were published online today in the journal Nature.
"The ryanodine receptor is a complex molecular machine within muscle cells," says Filip Van Petegem, an assistant professor in UBC's Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and lead author of the study. ...