[Tig] Uh, Oh... Scientists Create a Black That Erases Virtually All Light

[Ted Langdell]

 From this morning's Washington Post: (Wednesday, February 20, 2008;  
Page A01)

Black is getting blacker.

Researchers in New York reported this month that they have created a  
paper-thin material that absorbs 99.955 percent of the light that  
hits it, making it by far the darkest substance ever made -- about 30  
times as dark as the government's current standard for blackest black.

The material, made of hollow fibers, is a Roach Motel for photons --  
light checks in, but it never checks out. By voraciously sucking up  
all surrounding illumination, it can give those who gaze on it a  
dizzying sensation of nothingness.

"It's very deep, like in a forest on the darkest night," said Shawn- 
Yu Lin, a scientist who helped create the material at Rensselaer  
Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y. "Nothing comes back to you. It's  
very, very, very dark."

But scientists are not satisfied. Using other new materials, some are  
trying to manufacture rudimentary Harry Potter-like cloaks that make  
objects inside of them literally invisible under the right conditions  
-- the pinnacle of stealthy technology.

Read the whole article at:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/19/ 
AR2008021902617.html?wpisrc=newsletter

How long before this new material replaces the black velvet strip on  
chip charts?

Ted.

Ted Langdell
Ted Langdell Creative Broadcast Services
Marysville, CA
Main:   (530) 741-1212

tedlangdell.com. Storytelling through Broadcast Coverage and Creative  
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