A brief history of invisibility

Let's hope Star Fleet perfects the technology before the Romulans get their hands on it. Scientists have made the impossible possible, disappearing a cylinder by guiding light around it before putting those photons back on their original path -- essentially bending light around the object. This new approach achieves invisibility where others have failed. With a catch, however: It only works from one direction. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.foxnews.com/science/2012/11/13/invisibility-cloak-now-reality-scientists-say/">Click here for more.</a> (Duke University)

Ever feel like going invisible? A new invisibility kit promises to deliver the power to disappear if you’ve got the cash. For a mere $20,009.99, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.opticsplanet.com/invisible-man-kit.html">the Invisible Man Kit by OpticsPlanet</a> could be yours. The company suggests the 36 products in their Invisibility Kit could be used for a number of purposes including law enforcement and military operations -- very different disappearing acts than the kind seen on "Breaking Bad." For the single man, the company recommends it for “dating.” For the hunters, OpticsPlanet says to “leave the mud to the amateurs. This is the 21st century, and you deserve the most advanced, sophisticated invisibility gear on the market today.” <a target="_blank" href="http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2013/10/10/invisible-man-kit-for-20000-can-disappear-completely/">Click here for 10 highlights from the kit intended to help you look, smell and hunt invisible</a>. (OpticsPlanet)

New stealth technology makes airplanes invisible not only to radar, it renders them hidden to the human eye as well – just like an invisibility cloak in a Hollywood sci-fi thriller. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2013/12/17/invisible-airplanes-chinese-us-scramble-for-cloaking-tech/">Click here for more.</a> (BAE Systems)

The University of Texas used "mantle cloaking" to cancel out light waves that bounce off a shielded object. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.foxnews.com/science/2013/03/27/invisibility-cloak-works-in-lab/">Click here for more.</a> (Warner Brothers)

A frame from the 1933 classic film "The Invisible Man," based on the H.G. Wells science fiction book of the same name. (Universal Pictures)

Invisibility cloaks and deflector shields, once a staple of popular science-fiction, are now the real deal, researchers say. Fractal Antenna Systems has a microwave invisibility cloak that can reportedly make an entire person disappear. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2012/11/14/deflector-shield-and-invisibility-cloak-wars/">Click here for more.</a> (Lucasfilm)

For the first time, a device has created a "hole in time" -- for a few nanoseconds anyway. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/07/18/cornell-team-builds-space-time-invisibility-cloak/">Click here to find out</a> how researchers at Cornell managed to hide a flash of light in a fiber optic cable by making it "temporally invisible." (NIST.GOV)

In The Lord of the Rings, Frodo is gifted with an elven cloak that can hide him from his enemies so that they would see "nothing more than a boulder where the Hobbits were." (AP)

Invisibility cloaks made of plastic can now be created at home using 3D printers, researchers show. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2013/05/25/3d-print-your-own-invisibility-cloak/">Find out how to print your own invisibility cloak here</a>. (Duke University Photography)