Magazine

September-October 2015

Current Issue

September-October 2015

Volume: 103 Number: 5

Oil rigs, such as this one in the North Sea off the Scottish coast, are often subjected to pummeling ocean waves. Other powerful waves, such as seismic and magnetic ones, can also cause great damage. Researchers are exploring concepts from cloaking technology that might be used to protect structures or objects from such waves. Cloaking, in theory, usually means making something invisible by redirecting light waves around it so the observer sees light that doesn’t appear to have interacted with anything. It’s possible that such a technology may never be feasible. But as Gregory J. Gbur explains in “A Protective Cloak Against Earthquakes and Storms,” by changing the density of water or ground, ocean or seismic waves can be made to change speed, and thus direction, diverting them around an object and “cloaking” it from damage, if not from sight. (Photograph by Gandee Vasan/Getty Images.)

In This Issue

  • Art
  • Astronomy
  • Biology
  • Chemistry
  • Communications
  • Computer
  • Engineering
  • Environment
  • Evolution
  • Mathematics
  • Physics
  • Sociology
  • Technology

The Most Powerful Movements in Biology

S. N. Patek

Biology Evolution Physics

The Past and Future Space Suit

David P. Cadogan

Engineering Technology

These single-occupant spacecraft enable human exploration outside of Earth’s atmosphere, and new designs and materials promise even greater functionality.

Do Humans Possess a Second Sense of Hearing?

Neil Todd

Biology Evolution

The cochlea is a recent evolutionary development. Mammalian ears, including our own, still also rely on features from our early vertebrate ancestors.

A Protective Cloak Against Earthquakes and Storms

Gregory J. Gbur

Engineering Physics Technology

Invisibility cloaking is not close on the horizon, but shielding from other types of damaging waves may be more feasible.

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