Just use infrared goggles.

Henry, Barrow,

I think Moron McBrown came up with this the minute he walked into No.10

MrHater, Moscow, Russia

Pics=Proof!

Jack MeHoff, Highland, USA

Yeah great for creeping up on civilians in Iraq but someone will develop a counter to it.

Sam, London, England

Who should have this technology? Uhh, whoever puts forth the dollars to research and develop it.

Let's just hope it's America.

Alex, Athens, USA

.00000066m is not a particularly precise measurement these days, even for relatively mundane mechanical products. The fuel injectors in passenger car diesel engines are manufactured to tolerances very close to this size range.

They are not invisible though.

Dan, Metamora, IL, USA

harkadahl

Who might the 'good guys' be? Obviously from your statement not those who seek democracy or freedom. So, then, who should have this technology?

Pmccord, Houston, USA

Enemies/victims on the other side of this technology won't know to look for it a first. And once they do, other countermeasures can be put in place. The question should constantly be asked: "Now what if this is compromised?" Cover a warm balloon with the material and let it cause a distraction, etc

Mike, Fort Worth, USA

Sorry, guys...invisibility can be defeated. Read the 'invisible man' see what rain does to it. Einstein pointed out that gravity will bend light on the cosmic scale. Therefore, because of its mass the 'invisible' isn't really; simply look for the hole in the background.

Myke, Madison, USA

Elizabeth, haven't you heard seeing isn't always believing! also, don't be scared, we are the ones developing the technology. Also, since we are actually hearing about it, it probably already exists.

Brad, Charlotte, USA

So if these 'invisibility cloaks' become available where would I get one from? I wouldn't be able to see it on the shelf anywhere, it may just look like there's none left!

Sam, Fareham,

this is absolutely terrifying. what is the world coming to? this raises huge questions about the future of warfare where one cannot be sure exactly who he is fighting against. most people have to see things to really believe them and this takes sight out of the equation.

Elizabeth, Minneapolis, USA

I think this is a fantastic idea for research... as a veteran I think it's great to continue to keep our fighting men and women with the best technology which will allow them to come home safely. Way to go R&D community!

Jason, San Antonio, United States

They should post a picture of how it works as well! ;-)

Jason, MH, USA

He's behind you !

dave, london,

I believe that this technology was pioneered at St Andrews University a couple of years ago. It will be useful for cloaking static objects, such as military installations, from particular vantage points (e.g, aerial recon.) It will also have civilian applications for cloaking unsightly buildings.

James, NJ, USA

If its in the paper, there's a good chance it's been developed for the last 10-15 years!

It's a natural progression of the stealth tecnoology developed many, many years ago for the stealth fighter and Aurora plane.

Andrew, Pools, England, UK

The prospect soon of an invisible and immortal and self-cloning person wandering around in the future does not bear thinking about. Would we be better off or worse, on balance, if nothing more was invented for the next hundred years?

Kevin Straw, Leicester,

Some posters here worry that this technology would be terrible if it fell in to the hands of the "bad guys". Well, its developed in the US and funded by Pentagon money for military use, so we should all be hoping that this technology will fall into the hands of the "good guys" as soon as possible!

harkadahl, London,

why not cure the worlds medical illnesses instead of developing totally useless sci-fi toys for the military? No one objects to rearranging the atomic structure of natures materials but when it comes to a cellular embryo, the religous army comes out in force.

LB, Aberdeen, Scotland

These guys are behind...as a married, white, Christian, American, male, (well) over 30, I've been invisible for years...

I'm looking for the "visibility" cloak. (One that doesn't require denying my faith, mate, race or gender. My age is up for grabs.)

Dan, Portland, United States

I have been invisible for years. I am male, and a full time volunteer in Human Rights. Single and invisible to the point of non-existence.

Nibiru, Brisbane, Australia

RE: "whilst all our govt policies act as if we don't exist."
Laura, They do recognise one thing about your existance; the fact that without your productivity, i.e., earning potential, they couldn't run the county. They may not see you, but their eyes are fixed on your earnings.

Jim , Kirkland, USA

Now if they can reverse that so we can see all the aliens that fly those saucers.

Vit, Osoyoos, Canada

Forget warfare. This will be used to control civilian populations by stealth.

Edward, Lincoln, England

And they can't come up with a fuel efficient car. This generation has allowed itself to be manipulated by government's chaos theory.

Joe, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

it seems like this tiny scientific breakthrough has sparked so much optimism! :P Bring back Einstein and Tesla from the dead is what I say, they'd know what to do

James B, Kingston Upon Thames, UK

Now there is only the infra-red to worry about. You can always be seen by that.

Steve, Upper Lake, CA, USA

The lack of intelligence here is amazing. Why are you people reading scientific news you don't understand? If a common criminal could afford a "cloaking outfit" they probably wouldn't need to be a criminal in the first place. This is "light camouflage" not the ability to be purely "invisible".

Scott, Toledo, US

I've often pondered how much good, or bad, same old human dilemma as always, could be accomplished with invisablility.

Bobby, Long Beach, The United States of America

I doubt this type of technology will even be cheap enough or widely available for sexual predators or any other kind of hostile person to aqquire. You think they'll be selling these at ToysRUs? Don't think so somehow...So you don't have to worry about your kiddies being snatched by an invisilble man

James, Lincolnshire, UK

Nicholas, London and Stephen K , Tampa: I applaud your insights. These are valid points, since even if the cloak were to bend IR as well as visible, the black body radiation would be hard to hide. And if you were to keep a perfect cloak, ALL the light needs to bend or it looks like a floating shadow

Alan-Michael, Fort Worth, USA

It never fails to amaze me how the most innocuous articles will unleash anti-americanism such as those expressed by the irrational Shannon Rosenberg of Lilihammer, Finland. Shannon, put the bong down and take the article for what it is. Just a scientific development.

Annie, Boston, Massachusetts,

I love all the comments from the pseudo-scientists on here claiming they have figured out how to defeat this technology already.

Brandon, Duncan, United States of America

Somehow I always knew the pointy heads would solve the population problem.

Adrian Vance, Lakeport, CA , USA

It's available to all CIA employees!

Aaron, Minneapolis, USA

Wow, suddenly Career prospects as a Burglar just got a whole lot better !! End of the identity parade as well, - and that other scourge of the criminal - CCTV,.

Clive, Gloucester, UK

In the UK, millions of us have had this ability since Labour got in.

We're the single, educated professional.

We're the invisible ones living in crammed rented shoeboxes in London, smaller than slum dwellers 100 years ago, whilst all our govt policies act as if we don't exist.

Laura Roberts, London, United Kingdom

So what you're saying is the potential for the device to become commercially available in freer market oriented coutnries like say canada over the u.s and then well canadians are just better people then amaericans they wont treat themselves like america treats itself ahahahahahaha doomed they are.

Shannon Rosenberg, Lilihammer, Finland

What I don't understand is how Osama Bin Laden got his hands on this stuff.

Pete, Seattle, USA

Bob from Boston is spot on. From terrorists to sexual predators the prospect of them being able to cloak themselves in invisibility is pretty frightening. That said if you think about it, pretty much every invention that was created with good intentions winds up being used for bad things.

David Arnold, Upland, USA

They have had this for years. Don't you remember the Predator or the Klingon star ships?

henry, Philadelphia, usa

Well you can bet this guy Ziang will make his annual visit to China pretty soon....it's as if they are using our most advanced facilities for their own research!!

mike, newark, nj, usa

Granting that all the technical hurdles can actually be surmounted, does anyone realize how horrifying this technology is? Just imagine: after it gets into the hand of the bad guys (which is inevitable), ordinary people get attacked on the street, in their homes, etc by - who knows who?? Can't wait!

Bob, Boston, USA

I already have a cloaking device installed on my car and it's been operational for years. How do I know? Because EVERY bloody time I drive ANYwhere, the idiots keep pulling out in front of me as if they can't see me, and try to run me down as if I weren't even in my lane! It never ends!!!

John Greenbrier, Ottawa, Canada

Adrian, I got a chcukle out of that one, Seems the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Our congress in Washington follow a similar pathology; with heads all tucked firmly between thier legs they simply can't see the problem at all.

Jim Huntsberry, Kirkland, USA

I suspect the military actually thought about that. The problem with thermal is that it is costly and not always monitored.

If stealth could be perfected, then the enemy better have nods for all their personnel. Otherwise, those without are as good as dead.

NTL: thermal is electromagentic rad

James, San Diego, USA

Um...if visible light is bent around it, then it would give off no signature of any kind. If nothing can get in to reflect, than nothing can get out, including heat. So, correct that nothing can be seen, but if a ship is invisible nothing keeps someone else from relaying information to it.

Mike, Dallas,

I'm sure this is "just the beginning" and that in the end it will have the ability, some time, likely measured in tens of years, to cloak on may levels. I do like the arguement that someone inside this sphear would not be able to see out, but I am sure this will be resolved

Steve B, Tampa, FL, US

The IR (thermal imaging) will be next as it lies in the invisible to humans spectrum. This will be useful against ground troops with limited technology (CHINA/RUSSIA) What they cannot see, they cannot shoot at. This will allow an even larger kill ratio for the allied forces.

ValricoJoe, Tampa, USA

just use a big can of aereal spraypaint. That will find them.

jrosado, naugatuck, USA

This would work well for static locations. Just like B-2's &
F-117's, the news is usually a decade behind. Few have the tech of the West.
Where's Russia's Directorate T & China's equivalent? Oh, out stealing that which they can't seem to create on their own.

Harry, NY,

Let see so those in the U.K. think it's stupid to invent a cloaking device because it could only be used against taliban type combatants? Where would most future wars be fought and against whom? As far as the guy from U.S. saying those inside would be in dark I guess he hasn't been in a modern tank.

Charles Runyon, Rochester Hills, USA

im not sure exactly how this would work but im pritty sure if they say it will bend light, nickolas from london, it would emply all types of light encluding infra red light too. Thermal imaging however i agree with you on that though.

andrew, Thurso, Scotland(UK)

The British Government have already perfected this-especially where logic and common-sense are concerned- they are the experts at deflecting light from real issues then denying they ever existed.

Adrian E Dyche, Bradford, England

So somebody is cloaked by the material. How are they supposed to see? They would need at least some of the light that's being deflected, or they would be completely in the dark.

Stephen K, Tampa, USA

What a waste of resource when the same object can be seen in infra red and thermal imaging.
Not a bad idea if you are fighting the Talaban !!

Nicholas, London, UK