Better Call Saul: Is Chuck Really Crazy?

“I have no doubt in my mind that at the present time the greatest polluting element in the earth’s environment is the proliferation of electromagnetic fields."  -- Dr Robert O. Becker, twice nominated for the Nobel Prize in Medicine

Like fish in water, so immersed in the substance they're oblivious to its content, we are mostly oblivious to the electronically pulsed and poisoned air that surrounds us...that is, oblivious unless you're part of the 4% of us that is electro-hypersensitive (EHS).  Then you literally feel the artificially hyped-up electromagnetic fields (EMF) that permeate every part of our environment today.  Therefore, the most important question should be: “What is the effect of EMFs on human health?”  Well, good luck in getting truthful answers to that question and many others.

In our profit-before-people milieu--and in this case, wireless profits before people-- the true answers to this question and many others  are often corrupted, suppressed, sabotaged, subverted, etc., in the interests of profit power and almighty "progress".

In Breaking Bad spinoff, Better Call Saul (BCS), Chuck McGill, Saul/Jimmy Goldman/McGill's successful attorney brother, is portrayed as crazy, because he claims to be allergic to electricity, allergic to electromagnetic fields: electromagnetic hypersensitivity (ESH). In the presence of objects with an electric pulse, Chuck suffers from painful symptoms such as heart palpitations, brain fog, headaches, insomnia. Everyone--viewers and fictional characters, alike-- believe Chuck's disease is psychosomatic, in his head.  In other words, Chuck is mentally ill, not physically ill. Naive viewers, many of whom never heard of this disorder, now believe that EHS isn't real, that it's a phony disorder, which, I guess, is the point of Chuck's somewhat despicable, somewhat pitiful character (in relation to his lovable brother, anyway)

Prior to the explosion of  cell phone use, in 2003, the British television series, Judge John Deed (season three, episode one, entitled, "Health Hazard") profiled a case against a mobile phone company. In this episode, a woman with grade 4 astrocytoma sued the phone company for causing her brain tumor.

Judge John Deed: If this cell phone case were to go against the company, it could prove difficult for you.
Sir Ian Rochester: Not me personally.
Judge John Deed: I mean, it could open a floodgate of litigation. Like with asbestos and tobacco.
Sir Ian Rochester: We’d regard it as a great favor if you were to let it go back to Monty Everard in the Strand.
Judge John Deed: The claimant is very poorly and she lives locally. It seems unkind to ask  her to go all the way up to London.  On the other hand, being owed a favor by your lot might be a very good position to put myself in. 
Sir Ian Rochester: We would be grateful.
Judge John Deed: Is Monty Everard amenable to pressure?
Sir Ian Rochester: Ah. Does that mean you're not interested in what we might offer you?
Judge John Deed: Just no convinced you could deliver.
Sir Ian Rochester: You'd have my word.
Judge John Deed: Then talk to me about my elevation to the Appellate Bench.
Sir Ian Rochester: The Lord Chancellor regrets not having a mind such as yours in the Appeals Court.
Judge John Deed: And this ridiculously unfair PCC hearing against Mrs. Mill being dropped.
Sir Ian Rochester: The Lord Chancellor's department had very little influence there.They're all reasonable men on the Disciplinary Tribunal.
Judge John Dee: Well, the only question remaining, then, Ian, is can we achieve all this within the next 20 minutes?
Sir Ian Rochester: I hardly think that practicable.
Judge John Dee: Because that’s when I’m hearing the arguments for directions in the mobile phone case.
Sir Ian Rochester: We respect the integrity and independence of the judiciary, Sir John. But there comes a point when its very existence depends upon a workable relationship with the Executive. Never more so then in the case you’re about to hear.
Judge John Deed: See, with the license revenue from the mobile phone companies at stake, well, what it, $22 billion; this workable relationship might easily deteriorate into a master-servant relationship.  Couldn't it, Ian?

After this discussion between the Judge and Sir Ian, they were evacuated from the court house because of a bomb scare.  Coincidence?  Judge John Deed didn't think so. Later in the episode, the following barristers argued about the evidence:

Barrister George Channing:They have in their possession erased emails sent by my clients and to my clients. These they obtained in contravention of the laws of procedure.
(After more discussion about procedure)
Barrister Jo Mills: The documents contain a report showing a causal link between the radiation in the form of microwaves produced by cell phones and scrambled patterns of electrical activity in the brain. This leads to the stripping of proteins from cells which can in turn lead to tumors
(After more discussion about procedure)
Barrister Jo Mills: One-Way (fictional cell phone company) was alerted to the problems, the health problems, their product posed. Now, instead of accepting the advice of independent scientists, they chose to erase both the paper and electronic trails We now have a situation where there is a floodgate waiting to burst open with claims, and a company whose sole economic imperative is to keep the gates firmly closed.
Barrister George Channing: My clients are an internationally quoted company with a reputation both in employment and social equity which they guard jealously. There is no question of their attempting to foist a deceit on the public. To do so would be counterproductive to their business and run counter to their ethos. Profit does not equate with social irresponsibility as my learned friend seems to be suggesting
Judge John Deed: The question a jury might reasonably ask is why did the company erase the emails?.
(Barrister George Channing argues about limited cyberspace)
Barrister Jo Mills: It wouldn't be unreasonable until you consider the content of the emails and who they were from. Independent scientists who One-Way employed to test their phones. Correspondence from whom they were happy to retain until they began receiving negative findings. which not longer supported their contention that their phones were safe..

Then later in the season: Episode 4: "Economic Imperative"

Barrister Jo Mills: (addressing the jury) I’d like you to consider, if you will, what single item has come to represent freedom, opportunity, and above all, convenience. I think you’ll agree it’s the mobile phone. For Diana Hulsey, a busy post-operative cancer counselor, with her own life and that of her young son to organize, her mobile phone was essential. To her, it was both the symbol and the instrument of freedom. But it was to become a dangerous, obsessive shackle. This little instrument (holding up the mobile phone) would not only burn into the brain of this young mother, causing a massive, inoperable tumor, it would do so with the fore-knowledge of the manufacturers.

Barrister Jo Mills: Professor, are you the head of neurology at Oxford University?
Professor: You know I am
Barrister Jo Mills: Have you become the foremost expert on astrocytomas, the type of brain tumor Diana Hulsey has?
Professor: Let us say, I know a lot about such tumors.
Barrister Jo Mills: As such, can you tell us why this sort of tumor is on the increase, Professor?
Professor: In my opinion, it’s due to the frequent and persistent interruption of molecular activity in the brain by microwaves.
Barrister Jo Mills: Do we know what’s brought about this increase?
Professor: The increased use of television, microwave ovens, computers, the single biggest cause is mobile telephones used against the side of the head. The create heating. They interrupt the molecular connections. They heat, in particular, the cortical surface of the brain. Due to the angle which the phone is held at, most microwaves are directed to the parietal lobe
Judge: Is there any way to avoid this?
Professor: Yes. Don’t use mobile phones.
Barrister Jo Mills: How long does this sort of tumor that Ms. Hulsey has taken to develop?
Professor: The time is infinitely variable. These tests haven’t been done in humans, only animals. But brain tumors are the fastest growing cancers. Three to six months from the breakdown of cells to detection would be usual.
Barrister Jo Mills: Did you draw any conclusion to the cause of her tumor?
Professor: In my opinion, the persistent use of her mobile phone was the cause. ..exposed to pulsed 900 megahertz radiation for one hour a day for three months, mice show a significant doubling of B-cell lymphomas.
Barrister George Channing: Why doesn’t everyone who uses a mobile phone develop a tumor?
Professor: For the same reason that all people who smoke don’t develop lung cancer or develop breast cancer from pesticides.

Barrister Jo Mills: With your leave, My Lord, I’d like to call my next witness, Dr. Angus Whitten. Dr. Whitten is a partner in the research unit that did the initial safety tests on the ZP-9 phone. He’s here on a witness summons.
Barrister Jo Mills: Dr. Whitten, how long did your lab do research for One-Way?
Dr. Whitten: We were 15 months into our second two-year contract.
Barrister Jo Mills: Who terminated your services?
Dr. Whitten: the marketing director, Max Solveigh, on 12th of December, 2000.
Barrister Jo Mills: Do you know why your contract was terminated?
Dr. Whitten: The reason given was sloppy work.
Barrister Jo Mills: Had it been sloppy
Dr. Whitten: If they say so
Barrister Jo Mills: Was not one of the so-called mistakes your daring to show your client high levels of heat-shock proteins in the brain cells of mice? Mice that had been exposed to microwave levels as those from the ZP-9 phone?
Dr. Whitten: I don’t recall.
Barrister Jo Mills: Are the heat-shock proteins you discovered in test mice so called because of their response to considerable rise in temperature in the cells?
Dr. Whitten: Yes, of course.
Barrister Jo Mills: Ordinarily, a rise of at least 20 degrees centigrade is needed, but you were recording damage to the protein structure in DNA and RNA cells at much lower temperatures.
(Doctor claims he doesn’t recall so barrister refers him to evidence bundle)
Barrister Jo Mills: You discover that exposing cells to microwaves from the ZP-9 cell phone heated cells of the brain in such a way as to damage protein structure.
Dr. Whitten: That appeared to be a conclusion.
Judge John Deed: Have you since changed your mind?
Dr. Whitten: We were taken off the case before reaching further conclusions.
Barrister Jo Mills: Would you read, please, email 39A to the court?
Dr. Whitten: “Max, unless you drastically modify this one, you could be marketing a time-bomb.”

Barrister Jo Mills: Dr. Goodfellow, were you until June of last year employed by Crighton Industries of Pennyslvania?
Dr. Goodfellow: Indeed I was.
Barrister Jo Mills: Can you tell us what you did?
Dr. Goodfellow: I was helping to develop microwave components for industry.
Barrister Jo Mills: Was that for the mobile phone industry?
Dr. Goodfellow: A huge part of it was. We were involved into trying to make ever smaller circuits for phones
Barrister Jo Mills: Why did you leave Crighton Industries?
Dr. Goodfellow: Essentially, I was unhappy with the way the products were being tested by so-called independent testers. They would fund research units at universities to the testing. The would even loan employees to the EPA in order to get the research passed. That person would then return to the company
Judge John Deed: You’re saying they cheat?
Dr. Goodfellow: It’s not called cheating. It’s the politics of science.
Barrister Jo Mills: Did you see problems in the results you were getting back?
Dr. Goodfellow: I did. The smaller the microprocessors, the more they heated the tissue…You pass microwaves through ever smaller gateways, they heat the brain rather like a magnifying glass concentrates the sun
Barrister Jo Mills: Did Crighton Industries know these concentrated microwaves were damaging tissue in the brain?
Dr. Goodfellow: I told them, again and again.
(after much cross-examination accusing him of being an imposter and a thief)
Dr. Goodfellow: That’s the dirty tricks they used because I threatened to expose them…You take these cheap shots. Well, let’s see you feel in five or ten years’ time for your part in this deceit when there are tens of thousands of people with brain tumors! (cancers do not form overnight. In almost all cases, cancerous tumors take many years to form and metastasize.)

However, unfortunately, TV shows like Judge John Deed, and perhaps even more so, The Wire--which allow its viewers a peak around the Oz-like curtain, partially exposing  the machinery or behind-the-scenes systemic corruption--are few and far between.

Mainstream media, mainstream academia, mainstream medical industry, not to mention institutions like the World Health Organization allege EHS is a nonexistent medical condition that allegedly does not present any health hazards, and in the mocking portrayal of EHS in BCS, the public is being conditioned to accept dangerous establishment disinformation once again, when, in fact, the reality is even darker than merely painful and irritating symptoms. The 4% of the population who suffer from symptoms caused by electromagnetic pulse are only the tip of a very iniquitously immense iceberg. In other words, just because you don't display symptoms of EHS doesn't mean you are not affected by our ever increasing electronically pulsed environment that harm our bodies and minds:  damages and potentially hijacks the nervous system,  the immune, nervous, cardiovascular and reproductive systems, and causes cancer.

Take South Florida Attorney, Jimmy Gonzales, who testified in front of the Pembroke Pines Fl Commission regarding the dangers of cell phone use. According to Gonzales, by using his cellphone for a period of 10 years for well over 30 minutes a day, cancer manifested in the exact locations where his cell phone was heavily used. When you learn his true story of how wireless microwave radiation took his life, how he lost his battle with three different cell phone induced cancers on November 27, 2014, Chuck McGill doesn’t sound so crazy anymore.



The the American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) called for a moratorium on smart meters (2012) and continues to veto them today. In a nutshell, they advised that smart meters should not be located in or next to the homes of those with cardiac or neurological conditions, including Parkinson’s, dementia, electrosensitivity, cancer and/or, wait for it...children!

“Wireless RF radiation … effects accumulate over time which is an important consideration given the chronic nature of exposure to ‘smart meters’. The current medical literature raises credible questions about genetic and cellular effects, hormonal effects … blood/brain barrier damage, and increased risks of certain types of cancers from RF and ELF levels similar to those emitted by ‘smart meters’. Children are placed at particular risk.”

More and more research is starting to show potential health risks from mobile and cordless phones, WiFi and other electromagnetic fields, yet the institutions like World Health Organization, Cancer Research UK, and the NHS all say that there is no good evidence that the sort of electromagnetic radiation (EMR) given off by phones and Wi-Fi routers is in any way dangerous..

Some would say this is the largest human biological experiment in the history of civilization. However, "experiment" is defined as "an act or operation for the purpose of discovering something unknown." In the case of cell phones, there is plenty of evidence to suggest the results were known long before the act or operation even began.

Links:

Florida Attorney Dies From 3 Different Cell Phone Induced Cancers

A Charity Could Face Investigation Over Its Adverts That Claim W-iFi And Mobile Phones Make People Ill

New Study Links Cellphone Radiation to Heart and Brain Tumors

Long-term Cell Phone Use Linked to Brain Tumor Risk

Cancer: Strong Signal for Cell Phone Effects

Risk for Glioma Triples With Long-Term Cell Phone Use


The Precautionary Principle in the Information Society Effects of Pervasive Computing on Health and Environment (Swiss Original)

Research Institute for Applied Bioenergetics

44 Reasons To Believe Cell Phones Can Cause Cancer

Electric Sense

Read more...

Immersed In an Ocean of Electromagnetic Radiation

We can't turn on the TV/radio, open a newspaper/magazine/book without being bombarded by warnings about anthropomorphic global warming/climate change (by the way, a multi-billion dollar industry based on psuedoscience), yet we hear nothing about the very real danger of anthropomorphic electrosmog. The earth is completely smothered in man-made electromagnetic radiation.

“The pulse of the earth 7.83 Hz. The human alpha waves of the human brain is 7.83 Hz. That's not a coincidence, but the power grid, crisscrossing the country, radio, TV, satellite, pagers, cell phone,wireless networking, etc., surrounding us have almost totally permeated our environment with an invisible electromagnetic attack practically impossible to escape.

In the mid eighties fewer than 3% of all people in most of the countries were using cell phones, but if you fast forward to today almost 100% of the people are using cell phones so the question we should all be asking, "is there anyone protecting the public from the invisible ocean of microwave radiation generated from the trillion dollar telecommunications industry?" The answer is a resounding NO!

Brushing aside smart meters, Wifi, and other forms of electromagnetic radiation, the most popular gadget of our age--the cell phone-- has now been shown to damage DNA, break down the brain's defenses, reduce sperm count, increase memory loss, and dramatically increase the risk of Alzheimer's disease and cancer. The growing brains of children make them especially vulnerable, yet half of the world's four billion cell phone users are under twenty.

So, with the constant smog of man-made frequencies surrounding our daily lives and no testing as to its safety, is it any wonder people's bodies have started to react?"

“Measuring Schumann resonance in or around a city has become impossible. Electromagnetic pollution from cell phones has forced us to make our measurements at sea. – Dr. Wolfgang Ludwig, physicist

Links:

Disconnect: The Truth About Cell Phone Radiation, What the Industry Has Done to Hide It, and How to Protect Your Family by Devra Davis

“Davis, the founding director of the toxicology and environmental studies board at the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, takes listeners through the dark side of this trillion-dollar industry. Health experts have long been frozen out of policy-making decisions about cell phones; federal regulatory standards are set by the cell phone industry itself. Cell phone manufacturers have borrowed the playbook of the tobacco industry. One secret memo reveals their war plan against reports of cell phone dangers. Among a host of fascinating characters, Davis introduces Om P. Gandhi, a world expert on how cell phone radiation penetrates the human brain. Once a consultant to major cell phone companies, Gandhi now refuses to work with them. We also meet Franz Adlkofer, who led the multi-lab study that showed once and for all that brain cell DNA is unraveled by cell phone microwave radiation-and, as Davis dramatically portrays, it nearly cost him his career. As this eye-opening call to action shows, we can make safer cell phones now. Why would we put our children at risk of a devastating epidemic of brain illness in the years to come?

Read more...

Besieged by EMF Pollution and Weaponized Frequencies

What do we know about the possible ill health effects from exposure to the transmitting antennas for our wireless communications? If you rely on the mainstream media, next to nothing. Electromagnetic (EMF) pollution (especially by microwaves) is hardly ever discussed. It's often asserted that there are not enough studies to reliably assess high frequency EMF pollution but that's simply not true. The truth is that by 1990, there were more than 10,000 publications on the danger of EMF/RFR, and today, there are probably twice that many. It's just that the telecommunications industry doesn't want to risk trillions of dollars in profit, thus the negative effects of EMF pollution are still denied by official science. Keep in mind, the cell phone industry has funded 87% of the research on this subject.

“It may be possible – and tempting – to exploit for strategic political purpose the fruits of research on the brain and on human behaviour. Gordon J.F. MacDonald, a geophysicist specialising in problems of warfare, has written that artificially excited electronic strokes ‘could lead to a pattern of oscillations that produce relatively high power levels over certain regions of the earth…In this way, one could develop a system that would seriously impair the brain performance of very large populations in selected regions over an extended period.’

No matter how deeply disturbing the thought of using the environment to manipulate behaviour for national advantages to some, the technology permitting such use will very probably develop within the next few decades.” -- Zbigniew Brzezinski, Between Two Ages: America’s Role in the Technetronic Era:

Moreover, the military knew the effects of  EMFs as far back as the 1970s, after compiling 2300 studies to show the effects of microwaves on humans.

These antennas are found on all wireless communications devices, such as cell towers, WiMax systems, internet routers, cell and cordless phones, smart meters, smart boards, ebook readers not to mention, baby monitors. You can find out how many antennas and towers are located within a 4-mile radius of your address at Antennasearch.

“Antennas are the actual signal emitters for cellular, paging and other radio services. Antennas can be placed on towers or be stand alone and placed on top of offices, condos, churches, light poles, signs, etc. Stand alone Antennas are small and difficult to spot as they are easily hidden/camouflaged.

Towers are tall structures (typically over 200 ft) used for Cellular, Paging and other radios services. Towers can contain multiple antennas owned by various companies.

World-renowned neurosurgeon and research scientist Dr. Lief Salford's  (Lund University, Sweden)  research findings--since 1988-- show blood brain barrier leakage in thousands of rat brains exposed to much lower doses of microwave radiation than cell phone usage, leading to increased albumin (neurotoxin) uptake, memory loss and damage of up to 2% of brain cells. Dr. Salford said that today, "two-thirds of the world's population volunteer as guinea pigs in the world's largest biological experiment."



Is Wifi making your kid sick?



Then, if the smart meters, cell towers, etc aren't bad enough, our domestic law enforcement is being encouraged to use "non-lethal" directed energy weapons on us. In order to avoid violation of international defense/agency treaties, the Department of Defense uses the Department of Justice to test "non-lethal" weapons classified as "crowd control", in their "non-lethal" electromagnetic weapons program. In 1993, the National Institute of Justice Initiative on Less than Lethal Weapons recommended that local and state police departments in America utilize psychotronic, electromagnetic, and other mind control weapons against American citizens involved in "domestic disturbances," an open-ended term that can include pretty much anything. The Washington Post reported, “The Pentagon and the DOJ have agreed to share state-of-the-art military technology with civilian law enforcement agencies, including exotic non-lethal weapons."

“Short term research will be completed to adopt military technology to use by domestic law enforcement including laser microwave and electromagnetic weapons."

History teaches us that waiting for legislation and officials to protect our health is like closing the barn door after the horses escape. History teaches us that public health almost always loses to powerful commercial interests. Now that we have the information at our fingertips, there is no excuse for ignorance.

Links:

Apple IPAD 3G has Five Antennas

BioInitiative 2012

Is Wifi Safe For Children? Beware of Health Risks.

Cellular Telephone Russian Roulette by Robert Kane,a former top Motorola engineer, traces the history of cell phone development (in which he was involved) and analyzes the cell phone radiation bioeffects research base from 1950 to 1996.

“Talking on a cellular phone can be likened to holding a microwave oven to one's head."

Cellular Radiation: Is This Our Next Titanic?

StopTheCrime.net

SmartMetersMurder.com

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Are Cell Phones Today's Cigarettes?

On Friday, April 15, NBC's chief medical editor, Dr. Nancy Snyderman, claimed that after doing research, she found that radiation levels from cell phones are very low; therefore, should not pose a danger to people. Really? Where did she conduct her research? Verizon? AT§T? Must have, because CPR News cites 170 studies , alone, that blatantly contradict "Dr." Snyderman's findings. To be sure, that's only the tip of the iceburg.

Head of the INTERPHONE study, Elisabeth Cardis, and scientists in Israel link mobile phones to parotid gland tumors. Dr. Siegal Sadetski, testifies at US Senate Hearing



Children and young people are most at risk. Why? Well aside from the fact that they are so addicted to their mobile phones, that a study says it feels like they have lost a limb when they are without them, their brains are still growing and their skulls are thinner, so the radiation penetrates even deeper.  I wonder...does "Dr." Nancy Snyderman have children?  Grandchildren?

By law, in France, if you are under 14-years of age, you cannot use a cell phone. In other European countries, if you under 9-years old, you cannot use a cell phone. However, here, in the United States of Corporate America, where corporate profit trump, even life and death matters, the corporate owned media lies to us, and tells us that cell phones are safe.

The Interphone report states that your risk of getting a parotid tumor on the same side of your head that you use for listening to the mobile phone increases by:

•34% if you are a regular cell phone user and have used a mobile phone for 5 years.
•58% if you had more than 5,479 calls in your life-time.
•49% if you have spoken on the phone for more than 266.3 hours during your life-time.
•47% if you have used a mobile phone for 5 years or more and have had more than 5,479 calls in your life-time.
•50% if you have used a mobile phone for 5 years or more and have spoken on the phone for more than 266.3 hours.

And if you live in a rural away from major cities area your risk increases by:

•81% if you have made more than 18,996 calls in your life-time.
•96% if you have a life-time exposure of more than 1,035 hours.
since towers are farther apart, mobile phones have to emit higher levels of radiation to communicate with the nearest antenna.

However, even though the Interphone study, just pubished in the International Journal of Epidemiology, still shows statistically significant increased risk of brain tumors after 10 years of cellphone use, according to Lloyd Morgan, B.Sc.,(video below) lead author of  "Cellphones and Brain Tumors: 15 Reasons for Concern", says this study grossly underestimates the risk,  threrefore, rendering it unreliable.


Interphone Study Design Flaws

Just to give you an idea of how juvenile our corporate leaders are:   In San Francisco, last year, a bill was passed requiring cell phone retaliers to post radiation levels. The cell phone industry got so angry that they canceled all of their conferences in the San Francisco area.  These are the kind of people who rule our nation...our world.

Let's be clear. It's not just cell phones that have created this man-made sea of electromagnetic waves in which we live. It's portable phones (just as bad as cell phones) microwave ovens, televisions, computers, fluorescent lights, electric razors and hairdryers, iPods, etc. An abnormal electromagnetic environment like this has never existed before. So, who knows what the end result will be.

The aforementioned was in no way intended to be a "lecture" on the evils of cell phones, computers, or anything else in that realm. I'm as addicted as anyone else to the "pulsating EMF frequency" culture of convenience that  has transformed all of us into human antennas in order to receive those conveniences...perhaps, even moreso.  What I find infuriating is the repression of information that deprives us of making informed decisions, especially, when those decisions revolve around the most innocent and vulnerable of our citizens: our children.
Links:

Cell phone use found to affect the glucose metabolism of the brain

Asymmetries in Hip Mineralization in Mobile Cellular Phone Users

Brain tumour risk in relation to mobile telephone use: results of the INTERPHONE international case–control study

Mobile Phone Use Goes Beyond Brain Tumors

Is Your Cell Phone Melting Your Brain?

Read more...

Get Your Harry Potter Invisibility Cloak

Update: Back in 2007 I blogged about the possibility of an invisibility cloak. Well, apparently, it's even more of a possibility as the Harry Potter-style invisibility cloak may be available soon.

"The idea centres on the use of a 'metamaterial' surface, which tricks the eye into thinking an item is not there by bending light away as it reflects from the source."

From May 4, 2007: A computer model designed by a mathematician at the University of Liverpool has shown that it is possible to make objects, such as aeroplanes and submarines, appear invisible at close range. Scientists have already created an ‘invisibility cloak’ made out of ‘metamaterial’ which can bend electromagnetic radiation – such as visible light, radar or microwaves – around a spherical space, making an object within this region appear invisible. Until now, scientists could only make objects appear invisible from far away. Liverpool mathematician Dr Sébastien Guenneau, together with Dr Frédéric Zolla and Professors André Nicolet from the University of Marseille, have proven - using a computer model called GETDP - that objects can also be made to appear invisible from close range when light travels in waves rather than beams. Scientists predict that metamaterials could be of use in military technology, such as in the construction of fighter jets and submarines, but it will be some years before invisibility cloaks can be developed for human beings.

Dr Guenneau, at the University’s Department of Mathematical Science, explains: “The shape and structure of aeroplanes make them ideal objects for cloaking, as they have a fixed structure and movement pattern. Human beings and animals are more difficult as their movement is very flexible, so the cloak - as it is designed at the moment - would easily be seen when the person or animal made any sudden movement.

“A cloak, such as the one worn by the Harry Potter character for example, is not yet possible but it is a good example of what we are trying to move towards. Using this new computer model we can prove that light can bend around an object under a cloak and is not diffracted by the object. This happens because the metamaterial that makes up the cloak stretches the metrics of space, in a similar way to what heavy planets and stars do for the metrics of space-time in Einstein’s general relativity theory.

“In order for the cloaking device to work in the first place light has to separate into two or more waves resulting in a new wave pattern. Within this pattern we get light and dark regions which are needed in order for an object to appear invisible.

“Until now, however, it was not clear whether photons – particles that make up all forms of light – can split and form new waves when the light source is close to the object. If we use ray optic techniques – where light travels in beams - photons break down at close range and the object does not appear invisible. If we study light as it travels in waves however, invisibility is maintained.”

Scientists predict that invisibility will be possible for objects of any shape and size within the next decade.

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