SHIELDED
FROM HARM

Topics: Appearances; Faith; Light; Perception and Reality; Spiritual Perception; Trust; Watchfulness

References: Numbers 12:8; Isaiah 48:6; Matthew 5:14; Mark 4:22; Luke 9:45

A copper object can be protected from microwave radiation by using a special “cloaking device.” That’s what researchers discovered in the fall of 2006. The cloaking device used special materials to divert the microwaves around the copper can, like water flowing around a smooth stone. As a result, what could previously be “seen” by microwave detectors became “unseen.” Designer David Schurig compared the breakthrough to a mirage in the desert, where heat causes the bending of light rays and cloaks the road ahead behind an image of the sky. “We have built an artificial mirage that can hide something from would-be observers in any direction,” Schurig said.

So far Schurig’s device does not work with visible light, meaning that it does not affect the way human eyes perceive what is here or not here. But the first step has been taken on a scientific quest that may one day change the way we see the world around us.

—Randolph E. Schmid, “Scientists Create Cloak of Invisibility,” ABCNews.com (October 19, 2006)