Cloaking is a long way from total invisibility

Covers could prevent light from reflecting off an object, causing it to 'disappear'

Worried that your boss might see you when you phone in sick then go shopping? Keen to avoid a colleague, an old flame or the neighbourhood wino in the street? Afflicted by social anxiety disorder?

Back in the Dark Ages, to avoid detection the standard tactic was to retract your neck, look down, walk fast and hope to fade into the mob. It never worked and never will. The more you try to hide, the more others are inclined to eyeball you like a questionable morsel stuck to a fork or caught in the grip of chopsticks.

Now science has the answer, apparently. My instinctive reaction to the news was scepticism. No, it was contempt. The claim seemed about as likely as the possibility of me discovering the bones of a Hobbit in my closet.

But bestowing invisibility through science may well be possible, according to two electronic engineers at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia: Andrea Alu and Nader Engheta.

The two are trying to devise a 'plasmonic cover' that stops light from bouncing off the surface of an object, causing the object to disappear. The engineers are toying with experimental covers that incorporate metals such as gold and silver to hide visible light.