A new way of assembling things called metamaterials, may in the not too distant future help to protect a building from earthquakes by bending seismic waves around it. Similarly, tsunami waves could be bent around towns, and soundwaves bent around a room to make it soundproof. One might be aware of metamaterials, as the holy grail of the field, is to use them to make things invisible to the eye.

Metamaterials are simply materials that exhibit properties not found in nature, such as the way they absorb or reflect light. The key is how they’re made. By assembling the material, from photonic crystals to wire and foam, at a scale smaller than the length of the wave you’re seeking to manipulate, the wave can, in theory, be bent to will.

– Reuters Singapore