There has been talk of some objects seen in the Harry Potter books making their way into the world of us, muggles. Personally, I think it's a conspiracy. Those wizards are real and are slowly trying to reach out to the muggles by secretly slipping scientists information on how to build such things as an Invisibility Cloak, Flying Cars, Magic Wands, a Marauder's Map, and Magic Books. Either that or the muggles are taking a leaf out of J.K. Rowling's books and using computers, sensors and cameras to invent magic-like creations. (Personally, I think it's the first.)
Invisibility Cloak
Scientists must really be fans of Harry Potter's invisibility cloak because they've invented their own! The virtual reality center at University of Tokyo's Tachi Laboratory created a shiny, silver raincoat. What makes the coat "invisible" are the cameras behind it, streaming the scene behind the wearer and projecting it onto the raincoat. The UTTL was only the first of several inventions to make an invisible cloak. The US Defense Department and Germany’s Karlsruhe Institute of Technology are also working on their own invisibility cloaks. The US Department uses the simple structure of sensors that read the light beams on one side of, say, the invisibility cloak, and projecting them on the other side. The only catch is making the cloak have a near instantaneous projection so as to keep up with the human eye. Please keep in mind that invisibility cloaks are not invincible to Dementors!
Flying Cars
The intelligent MIT students at the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics were able to fly a winged car for 37 seconds in Plattsburgh, New York. This new flying car has a 20-gallon tank with a 450-mile range. Its also has the capabilities of reaching 115 mph. Sources say they should be able to start mass producing as early as 2011. Me? I'll wait till the Ford Anglia comes out.
Those MIT students aren't the only ones looking into flying cars. Moller International of Davis, CA have invented the M400 Skycar, which will cruise roads at only 35 mph but has the capabilities of taking off vertically. From there, the M400 Skycar can fly low altitudes at more than 350 mph. Sounds like a good deal! Just pitch out $500,000 for one once they've been approved by the Federal Aviation Administration and the Department of Magical Transportation.
Up Next: Flying Motorcycles built by Samson Motorworks. Sorry, no Galleons accepted at this time. Also, Gringotts is in a bit of a state so no currency exchange at the present time.
Magic Wands
The Wand Company is the new and first creator of a TV remote control that looks and works just like a wand from the Potterverse. When pointed at a tv, the wand remote can turn the volume up or down, change the channel, and track skipping. The wand features a total of 13 gestures to program at your ease and can work with any infrared remote out there. And what's the very best feature of this wand, you ask? Why, it come with batteries! Um, most likely magical batteries, though.
Marauder's Map
The Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands until Polymer Vision are created their very own Marauder's Map (Wormtail not included). Similar to the way Harry can roll up his parchment, the PHG created a flexible screen that has a wireless transmitter to receive the location of a participating person. Basically, this map of sorts will act as a GPS in reverse!
Magic Books
Researchers in New Zealand are a might bit creative! They have discovered a way to make 3-D books that include talking animations, music, and narration at the same time! The way this works is that the reader will have a handheld viewer. That viewer will then locate the place the reading is looking and play the appropriate music and narration to go along with the readers current location. I don't know about you other Muggles, but this would be like a dream come true! Sure, one might argue that this takes away from a person's imagination, but it can equally be argued that it just might add to the reading experience by engaging more than one sense! Naturally, these books will be on next year's Hogwarts Required Reading List.
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