An ‘invisibility cloak’ for tsunamis?

A tsunami is headed right for a vulnerable shallow-water gas platform. The next minute, the first wave passes by harmlessly as if the structure had completely disappeared. Impossible? Perhaps not, according to a team of French and British physicists that has devised an ‘invisibility cloak’ that could, in theory, hide susceptible platforms or coastlines from ocean waves such as tsunamis. ... The cloaking concept is based on positioning multiple rows of pillars at specific intervals within a cylindrical pattern, so that the pillars and intervening spaces resemble a round checkerboard from above. In the lab, a small aluminum cylinder was subdivided into 50 precisely spaced rows of pillars radiating out from a flat center. The columns essentially dissipate oncoming waves so that anything behind the structure is hidden from them. Maybe even from tsunami waves. - msnbc