Cleaning Oil Spills

~200,000 tons of oil have polluted waters around the world from 2000=2010 alone. In response, researchers have designed nanowires of potassium manganese oxide that feels like paper. Tiny pores between the wires absorb oil (up to 20 times its weight) but repel water. It can also be reused because potassium manganese oxide is stable at high temperatures. This means one simply heats the nanowires above oil's boiling point so the oil evaporates while the paper is clean ... and the oceans

We can be invisible??!!

Yes - and soon, according to Natural History Magazine. But how?

First understand that light is one of many types of 'waves' (essentially bundles of mobile energy). Light is the one wave which, by bouncing off objects, makes objects visible to humans.

Light, as we know, travels at an incredible speed (186,000 mps). When it travels through different mediums, particularly those denser then air (e.g. water), it slows down. The slowing down of light is observed by it bending - a phenomenon known as 'refraction'. Anyways, the more dense the material, the more light slows down, and, consequently, bends.

Through the use of specially engineered 'metamaterials', scientists at Duke University have been able to bend light beyond what was considered possible (see video). As of now, they have created objects which become completely invisible, save for the casting of a small shadow.

With ongoing research in the field, maybe one day we'll be able to get a cloak like Harry Potter!