metamaterials

(Newser) - It's intended for military use, but it may also interest fashionistas: Scientists claim to have engineered a new "blacker than black" color that absorbs far more light than any previously known shade of black. The new ultrablack metamaterial—a type of material made of components smaller than the wavelengths...

(Newser) - German scientists say they have successfully used a new material to render an object invisible in three dimensions for the first time. Previous efforts at so-called invisibility cloaks could only hide objects from light coming in one direction. The material changes the behavior of light rays to "transform space,...

(Newser) - Harry Potter's invisibility cloak might be a real stretch, but scientists are now closer to making hidden portals like the one in an apparently solid wall that Harry uses to reach the train to Hogwarts, Nature reports. Objects made with so-called metamaterials—electrical devices that react oddly to light—can...

(Newser) - Soon Harry Potter may not be the only one wearing an invisibility cloak. Researchers today announced a new material that bends light away from objects, causing "negative refraction" and "cloaking." The technology, which adds to earlier research veiling two-dimensional objects, will likely conceal military devices and improve...