Hey there! welcome to Life Noggin. Let's be honest -- for the past ten years or so, we've all wanted to be witches or wizards.
大家好,欢迎来到脑洞大开的生命奇想!老实说,在过去十年左右的时间里,我们都想成为巫师。
I mean, learning spells and fighting evil snake-like people would be awesome, but I also really want invisibility cloaks to be real.
我的意思是,学习法术,对抗蛇蝎心肠的人会很伟大,但我也真的希望隐形斗篷是真实的。
I don't need one though, since my animator can make me invisible whenever he wants. That's a scary thought actually.
我不需要,因为只要我的动画师想,他就能让我隐形。这是一个可怕的想法。
But it would be a cool thing for humans to have. And believe it or not, scientists are getting kinda close to making these dreams come true.
但这对人类来说是一件很酷的事情。信不信由你,科学家们正在接近这些梦想。
And you don't have to live in a major copyrighted movie franchise to experience it. The key is distorting the way light bounces off an object.
而且你不需要在受版权保护的大电影里去体验它。关键在于改变物体反射光线的方式。
We're able to see things when light reaches our eyes. That light can be emitted from an object, like the sun.
当光线到达我们的眼睛时,我们就能看到东西。光可以从一个物体发射出去,比如太阳。
Or it can enter your eye by bouncing off an object, like this ridiculously large apple.
或者光可以通过一个物体的反射进入你的眼睛,就像这个非常大的苹果。
If we want to hide this apple, we just have to change the way that the light gets scattered off its surface. But that's much easier said than done.
如果我们想要隐藏这个苹果,我们只需要改变它表面反射光线的方式。但说起来容易做起来难。
See, to do this, we need to use something called a metamaterial --
要做到这一点,我们需要使用一种叫做超材料的东西。
which is a material whose structure makes it exhibit properties that don't occur naturally -- like, invisibility, for example!
这种材料的结构使其具有不会自然出现的特性,例如,隐形。
A team of researchers created a metamaterial to do this, which wraps around a three-dimensional object, just like a cloak would.
一组研究人员发明了一种超材料来做这件事,它可以包裹一个三维物体,就像斗篷一样。
But don't expect this metamaterial to keep you very warm, because it's only 80 nanometers thick!
但是不要期望这种超材料能保暖,因为它只有80纳米厚!
To put that into perspective, there are 1 million nanometers in a single millimeter, so this material is incredibly thin.
从这个角度来看,一毫米等于100万纳米,所以这种材料非常薄。
To actually make it work, it's covered in tiny brick-shaped gold antennas of different sizes to control how the reflected light gets scattered.
它被覆盖在不同大小的小砖形金制天线上,以控制反射的光散射的方式。
And when the researchers used light with a wavelength of 730 nanometers, the light reflected off the cloaked object as if it were a flat mirror instead.
研究人员使用波长为730纳米的光,被覆盖的物体像平面镜一样将光反射出来。
Theoretically, you can "tune" the cloak so it shows the object's background or even something else completely.
从理论上讲,你可以“调整”斗篷,这样它就能显示出物体的背景,甚至是完全不同的东西。
Like, this giant apple could now be a giant brussel sprout -- Very few people would want to eat it. But it could be that.
比如,这个巨大的苹果现在可能是一个巨大的小洋白菜——没多少人愿意吃。但这样确实是有可能的。
But, sadly, this technology is still far away from actually concealing a person.
但是,遗憾的是,这项技术还远远不能隐藏一个人。
For starters, it's only able to conceal very tiny objects, so you -- or a particular boy wizard -- would still be very visible.
首先,它只能隐藏非常小的物体,所以你——或者某个小巫师——仍然没办法隐身。
And it would also have to work for a wide range of wavelengths, not just one.
而且它适用的波长范围必须非常广泛,不仅仅是一个波长。
Oh, and there's also the issue that in order to actually be hidden, you'd have to be standing completely still.
哦,还有一个问题是,你必须完全站着不动才能隐身。
If you moved, the illusion would no longer work. Minus five points for Gryffindor! Can we say that now? Never mind!
如果你动了,这种错觉就不再管用了。给格兰芬多减5分!我们现在可以这么说吗?算了!
So, are there any other ways to become invisible? Well, if you want to be hidden from visible light, you could also hide yourself using standard lenses.
那么,还有其他方法可以让我们隐形吗?如果你想在可见光下隐身,你也可以用标准的镜片来隐藏自己。
But it would only work for a few viewing angles and it's pretty bulky -- so no cloak, unfortunately.
但它只适用于几个视角,而且非常笨重——很不幸,没有斗篷。
But what if you wanted to be hidden from something else, instead? Like, radar, for example.
但是,如果你想对其他东西隐身呢?比如雷达。
Granted, you -- or a military plane -- would still be visible to anyone watching, but to a radar system, it's possible to go virtually unnoticed.
假设,你——或者一架军用飞机——对肉眼来说仍然是可见的,但对雷达系统来说,几乎难以注意到。
Now, there's lots of ways to do this, but the one most similar to an invisibility cloak is a radar-absorbent material that coats the plane, like iron ball paint.
现在,有很多方法可以做到这一点,但最类似于隐形斗篷的是一种雷达吸收材料,它可以覆盖飞机,比如铁球涂料。
Basically, any incoming radar signals that reach the plane are dissipated away as heat thanks to some complicated physics going on in the material.
基本上,任何到达飞机的雷达信号都变成热量被散射出去,这要归功于材料内部一些复杂的物理过程。
But, sadly, you're a person and not a plane and radar isn't what you're trying to hide from. At least I think it's not.
但是,可悲的是,你是一个人而不是飞机,你也不想要对雷达隐身。至少我认为不是。
The research so far is promising, but it's probably going to be a very long time until we actually have a true invisibility cloak.
到目前为止,这项研究很有希望,但要真正拥有一件隐形衣,我们可能还要等很长时间。
But, baby steps, am I right? What sci-fi or fantasy technology do you want to be real? Let me know in the comment section below.
但是,一步一步来吧,对不对?你还想实现哪个科幻技术?请在评论栏中告诉我。
This video, as most of our videos are, was written by the wonderful and talented Head Writer of Life Noggin Kaylee Yuhas.
这段视频,还有我们的大部分视频,是由我们《脑洞大开的生命奇想》才华横溢的首席作家凯莉·尤哈斯编写的。
She made a Harry Potter themed video talking about some of the weird creatures in the world, and you HAVE to check it out.
她制作了一个哈利波特主题的视频,讲述世界上一些奇怪的生物,你必须去看看。
But sadly for Harry Potter fans like myself, in the real world, Polycephaly would only have 2 heads, and not three.
但不幸的是,对于像我这样的哈利波特迷来说,在现实世界中,多头畸形只会有两个头,而不是三个。
Still intimidating, but just a little bit less. but then there's also the fact that Polycephaly and a bunch of other creatures like Aragog the Akram Angella are giant.
还是有点吓人,只是少了点。但实际上,多头畸形,还有很多其他的生物,像阿拉戈克,阿克拉姆·安吉拉,体型都很庞大。
Go show her some love. Tell her Blocko send you. There's a link in the description if you're on mobile.
快去向她示好。告诉她宝高让你来的。如果你是在手机上观看的话,描述区中有一个链接。
As always, I'm Blocko and this has been Life Noggin. Don't forget to keep on thinking!
我是宝高,这是脑洞大开的生命奇想。思考不要停!