Cloaking device prototypes are usually either pipe dreams or
poorly executed, but this experiment out of UT Dallas is
incredible. Utilizing the same principle behind a mirage, Danger
Room reports, the carbon nanotube plate completely vanishes at a
button-press.  By heating up the water immediately around the
nano plate, rays of light are bent away from the material,
preventing a reflecting image from reaching an eyeball. The
warped rays protect the object from visibility perfectly. It's
unclear whether this approach would work from all angles, and
obviously, these are laboratory conditions, not the real world,
but I can imagine many a Navy engineer licking his lips at this.
[IOP via Danger Room]