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takyon writes:

The BBC is reporting on new metamaterials being discussed at the American Physical Society's March Meeting. Metamaterials are simply "artificial materials engineered to have properties that have not yet been found in nature". The most well-known metamaterials have a "negative refractive index" and have been compared by the press to the invisibility cloak from Harry Potter.

The conference, running from March 2 - 6 in San Antonio, Texas, has seen metamaterials that do far more than bend electromagnetic waves. Researchers from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology have shown off "unfeelability cloaks" that can deflect pressure around an object. Related work could lead to the deflection of earthquake waves around structures. A programmable spongelike metamaterial can be made to exhibit "negative stiffness", ie. softer when under pressure. This property could be useful in car bumpers (normally stiff, but soft on impact) or shoe soles. Also discussed are materials with a negative "Poisson ratio", which could lead to longer lasting engine parts, and highly compressible ceramics with shape memory.