ARTIFICIAL MIRAGE CREATED

From wire reports.

Washington--Scientists are boldly going where only fiction has gone before-to develop a Clock of Invisibility.
It isn't quite ready to hide a Romulan space ship from Capt.James T. Kirk or to disguise Harry Potter. But it is a significant start and could show the way to more sophisticated designs.
It's like a mirage, where heat causes the bending of light rays and cloaks the road ahead behind an image of the sky.
"We have built an artificail mirage tht can hide something from would-be observers in any direction," said cloak designer David Schurig, a research associate in Duke University's electrical and computer engineering department.
For their first attempt, the researchers designed a cloak that prevents microwaves from detecting objects. Like light and radar waves, microwaves usually bounce off objects, making them visible to instruments and creating a shadow tht can be detected.
The result is that the microwaves slide around the structure like water flowing around a smooth rock in a stream,said Dr. David R. Smith, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Duke and an author of the paper published today in the journal Science.
Enthusiasts have already suggested thata the technology may someday be useful for the military to create objects that are invisble to radar,or to shield objects from cellphone signals.There has even been talk of a real-life version of the invisibility device.
"We hope it's got some commercial potential," Mr. Myhrvold said."It could easily take years to figure out what the stuff is really good for from a practical, pragmatic standpoint.But, boy, it sure is really cool from a short-term standpoint.

SCIENTISTS SAY ANTARCTIC OZONE HOLE HAS GROWN.
Associated Press.

Washington--This year's Antarctic ozone hole is the biggest ever, government scientists said Thursday. The so-called hole is a region where there is severe depletionof the layer of ozone-a form of oxygen-in the upper atmosphere that protects life on Earth by blocking the sun's ultraviloet rays.Scientistss say human-produced gases such as bromine and chlorine damage the layer, causing the hole.That's why many compounds such as spray-can propellants have been banned in recent years.

Jackiesue's News:
Washington-President George W. Bush said after being told of the hole in the ozone.:"Hey, dude...just throw one of them invisible cloak's over that ole hole and it'll 'poof' disappear...just like ole Harry Potter in them movies. ..Ain't scientific shit cool.Do you think you can get me one of them cloaks so I can make myself invisible the next time Ole Dick wants me to go dove hunting with him? Dang,dude..I hate going hunting with him..he shot me in the ass once, said I stepped into his 'line of fire'...hell, I was in the back of the truck...yeah, get me one of them cloaks,I need me one of them cloaks."