Invisibility cloak that makes cat disappear developed
Beijing: Scientists claim to have developed a light bending ‘invisibility cloak’ that has made a kitten and goldfish mysteriously disappear. Researcher Chen Hongsheng from Zhejiang University and colleagues from Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University made a goldfish and a cat disappear with the new light-bending cloak, wantchinatimes.com reported.
Chen said the cloak can hide objects and organisms which can move along with the device without affecting their invisibility.
The cloak was developed using thin panels of glass that make objects invisible by bending light around them. Quoting a report by state-run Xinhua News Agency, the website said the cloak can only make objects invisible in a narrow spectrum of light.
Singaporean researchers have attempted to simplify the technology, the report said. Researchers found human eyes are not sensitive to light’s phase and minute delay, and chose to use glass to make the device because it is transparent, has a smooth surface, and can be obtained easily.
They used a hexagonal device, which is most effective when light is shone directly at six angles, while the polygonal device can only make objects invisible at two angles.
However, the technology is still rudimentary as it is most effective when the light comes from a single angle. (PTI)
Air travellers don’t trust female pilots: survey
London: Air travellers are less likely to trust female pilots at the control of an aircraft in comparison to their male counterparts, a new UK survey suggests.
Around 51 per cent of the nearly 2,400 people surveyed said they did not trust a female pilot, while just 14 per cent said they would feel safer with a woman. While 25 per cent of the people said the gender of the pilot did not matter, nine per cent said they were “unsure”, the ‘Telegraph’ reported.
As many as 32 per cent of those who proffered a male over a female, said “male pilots are more skilled”, while 28 per cent of them questioned the ability of female pilots to handle pressure.
Among those who preferred to see a woman at the control of an aircraft, 44 per cent said men were “too hot-headed in a crisis”, while a quarter said men might be “too easily distracted”.
All the people surveyed had taken a flight in the last one year, the report said. “To see that more than half would be less likely to trust a female pilot was absolutely astounding,” said Chris Clarkson, managing director of UK based travel website, which undertook the survey. “Clearly, many Britons have stereotypes that they need to get rid of,” said Clarkson. (PTI)
‘Nazi art trove’ includes unknown Chagall treasure
Augsburg (Germany): Previously unknown masterpieces by modernist painters Marc Chagall and Otto Dix are among a vast trove of works believed stolen by the Nazis and uncovered in a Munich flat, an art historian said on Wednesday.
Breaking two days of silence following the revelation of the spectacular discovery, Meike Hoffmann, the chief expert aiding the investigation, said the Chagall painting, an allegorical scene dating from the mid-1920s, had a “particularly high art-historical value”.
The Dix work is a rare self-portrait probably painted in 1919, she added.
Hoffmann showed slides of the paintings, which also include works by Pablo Picasso, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Henri Matisse, at a news conference in the southern city of Augsburg where the German authorities shed light on the extraordinary find in the apartment of an eccentric elderly loner.
The man, identified as Cornelius Gurlitt, is the son of Hildebrand Gurlitt, a prominent Nazi-era art dealer who acquired the paintings in the 1930s and 1940s. Hildebrand Gurlitt had been one of a handful of art experts tasked by the Nazis with selling valuable artworks stolen from Jewish collectors or seized among avant-garde works deemed to be “degenerate”.
Augsburg chief prosecutor Reinhard Nemetz said 1,285 unframed and 121 framed paintings, sketches and prints, some dating back to the 16th century, were found in the rubbish-strewn flat.
Focus magazine, which broke the story this week, had reported that the collection comprised 1,500 works worth an estimated one billion dollars (USD 1.3 billion).
Nemetz declined to comment on the possible market value of the stash. Determining which works were looted from Jewish collectors by the Nazis or taken from them under duress for a pittance would be a lengthy process, Hoffmann noted. In a moment of high drama at the news conference, Hoffmann flicked through slides in the darkened room showing works that had not been seen in public in seven decades. (AFP)
Did top secret `spy hit squad` plot Princess Diana’s assassination?
London, Nov. 6 (ANI): Princess Diana’s death in the 1997 Paris car crash was planned and carried out by a top secret `spy hit squad`, known by the codename UK/N, it has been revealed.
Barrister Michael Mansfield QC made the revelation at Diana’s inquest, the Daily Star reported.
Mansfield, 72, claimed that the hit squad included photographers, drivers, former servicemen, and members of the SAS.
Mansfield alleged that one paparazzo, who routinely followed the Princess of Wales, was a member of UK/N, a small corps of part-time MI6 agents who provide miscellaneous services to MI6, such as surveillance.
Mansfield asserted that the squad believed Pont D’Alma tunnel would be a perfect location for an assassination bid, as it would reduce the possibility of witnesses seeing the “accident”, and the concrete barriers would ensure death or serious injury in a high-speed crash. (ANI)