030: This New Material Makes Things ‘Invisible’ To Touch!

German scientists have invented a material that can conceal any object known to man. This will only be used for good… I hope. Oh God, what've we done?

Hey guys, Tara here for Dnews – and if it isn't obvious already, the future is amazing. We have self-driving cars, we have robots that can dance and sing. But you know what we don't have enough of? Invisibility cloaks. Oh, wait, just kidding – we just invented one.

The fine people over at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany have created a polymer that can make any object invisible to the sense of touch. So, when you lay it over something, it perfectly adapts and absorbs the shape of whatever's underneath it. This example photo shows a tiny metal cylinder encased in this polymer – so, no matter how hard you press down on it, you won't be able to feel the cylinder underneath.

The polymer itself consists of a bunch of tiny needle-shaped cones, whose tips meet to form a crystalline structure that encases an object and makes it completely impervious to detection. Even a force feedback mechanism won't be able to determine the object hidden underneath. What's even cooler, is that each of those tiny cones is constructed with sub-micrometer accuracy. So, by changing the size of the contact points, you can theoretically create a material with any kind of mechanical properties you want, even those not found in nature. The researchers who invented this say it was developed purely for experimental purposes, but it does open up ideas for some interesting new applications.

One example they give – that I could totally see myself using – is for camping. If you created a very thin mattress out of this meta-material, it could completely absorb all of the twigs and jagged rocks underneath it. So, you'd have a completely smooth surface, with no indication you were even sleeping on the ground. Of course, this is brand new – so practical applications are still a long way off. But still! Just think of all the things we could do with this! I'm sure you guys have some awesome suggestions yourselves. So, as long as they don't involve couch cushions and several kilos of cocaine, feel free to share them!

Just leave them in the comments below, or you can hit me up on Twitter at @TaraLongest.

That is all for me, but as always – thank you guys for watching!