We haven’t covered much cloaking technology and that’s a shame because it’s starting to come into its own. Stefan Enoch at the Fresnel Institute in Marseille, France says that established cloaking principles, such as steering microwave light around an object, could be applied to ocean waves. Because cloaking technology is still in its infancy, scientists are still working on tackling 3-D objects, but we’ve got 2-D down. This works in our favor because waves are essentially 2-D.

To put this theory to the test, researchers built a prototype. The image above is the said prototype which is tested in a wave pool. Acting like a whirlpool, the device produces forces which pull the water along the concentric corridors as a result of the waves repelling off the pillars. This causes all the water to go everywhere except the center of the cloak. Think of the possibilities.

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The Dutch town of Hengelo is putting certain concrete paving stones to the test. These said stones contain a titanium dioxide-based additive that, when under the influence of sunlight, bind the nitrogen oxide particles emitted by car exhausts and turns them into harmless nitrates. They plan on measuring the air quality after paving one half of a road with the air-purifying concrete and the other half with the ordinary variety.

Air purification isn’t all this new concrete is capable of, however. It may look like the same old cement but it also repels dirt off the road, providing a smoother driving surface. If only this concrete could cure SARS. It’ll be another year before the tests become conclusive and with the way gas is these days, we’ll all be cutting our cars in half instead of driving on air-purifying concrete.

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