Now you feel it, now you don't Nanomaterial clo

aks the sense of touch

A real invisibility cloak may still be the stuf of fantasy, but scientists
have fgured out a way to hide objects from touch.
Two years ago, researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
KIT! in "ermany successfully created #entamodes, or mechanical met
amaterials. $ow, researchers have found a fascinating #ro#erty in the
metamaterial% the ability to hide or &cloak& the e'istence of foreign obj
ects hidden within it. It(s a discovery that could lead to making everyt
hing from more comfortable cam#ing gear to shoes that make you feel
like you(re walking on air.
)ead% *$A $anobots +ould *eliver the ,uture of -edicine
.uilt at a millimeter scale, this #olymer/based, scafold/like structure
can sha#e itself around a object 0 say, a tiny hard tube 0 and dis#ers
e #ressure in such a way that human touch can(t detect its e'istence.
1ut another way, if all the mattresses from the 2ans +hristen Anderso
n classic fable &The 1rincess and the 1ea& were made out of this mech
anical metamaterial, the #rincess would never have felt the #ea, even
if she were slee#ing on just one thin sheet of the nanomaterial.
This is how the metamaterial works+34)T567 KA)86)425 I$6TIT4
T5 3, T5+2$383"7
This trick wouldn(t work in an everyday material. The KIT researchers
describe its mechanical metamaterial as such%
&9It: is a crystalline material structured with sub/micrometer accuracy.
It consists of needle/sha#ed cones, whose ti#s meet. The si;e of the co
ntact #oints is calculated #recisely to reach the mechanical #ro#erties
desired. In this way, a structure results, through which a fnger or a m
easurement instrument cannot feel its way.&
This mechanical metamaterial is <uite #leasing to the eye, and thanks
to its nano design, is also incredibly light. Its uni<ue structure is #rod
uced by using $anoscribe(s =* laser lithogra#hy.
>hile this is #urely a research #roject, the results of which are #ublis
hed in the &$ature +ommunications& journal, the KIT researchers do e
nvision an interesting nanomaterial future. The discovery could, for e'
am#le, eventually be used to make more comfortable slee#ing bags th
at shield the user from feeling rocks or #ebbles on the ground or rugs
that hide the bum#s of bad ?ooring and cables.
There(s no word yet if this nanomaterial could someday be used for m
ore nefarious #ur#oses, like hiding a wea#on or contraband from a #a
t/down
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