Outside the Lines: ‘Magic Carpets’ Make Objects Invisible

The New Scientist reports that science has taken one of the first steps to a Harry Potter-style "invisibility cloak" that hides objects in plain view:

Invisibility cloaks work by deflecting light waves so the light that reaches the eye shows no trace of the hidden object... Both new carpet cloaks... provide the first demonstrations of optical cloaking. As they are not limited to a narrow range of wavelengths, in principle the cloaks could hide objects in normal light.