Scientists curve light

Indeed...perhaps China is using this to hack Skype! Yikes!!!

But yes, sweet action. Mabye this can have some healthcare implications in nano-surgery for CABG operations or ischemic stroke patients. Way to go fellas!

The implications are enormous.

i'd prefer peace, but i suppose this is an important discovery.

In order for Light to act on another particle with mass, wouldn't that require the light to have mass as well?

This confirms something I've suspected since I was like 8 years old and first saw a Crooke's Radiometer.

So if a light goes on in the forest, and there is no one there to see it...?

Cool.

Maybe now they can start making those light cycles from TRON.

I wonder if they could make laser pointers that shoot around corners....no one would ever suspect it came from around the corner, its brilliant.

"NEW LASER TAG GUN SHOOTS AROUND CORNERS"

cool

"A standard beam of light spreads as it travels due to the wave effect known as diffraction. Take a laser pointer - even that would be 100km wide if this light beam were to reach the moon. Tell us why this is interesting"

Not to nitpick here but this seems to be describing "diffusion", not defraction. Defraction is the property by which light can be bent. Diffusion would result in light spreading out. Just my opinion

Christmas lights can now we taken to a whole other level....

I saw an amazing presentation about the possibilities of light a few months back - physicists were able to use light to trap and move latex beads, yeast cells, and even change the shape and growing direction of fungal spores. Light's amazing...

did not einstein prove his theory of relativity by noticing light bending around the sun? seems like this news is probably about 90 yrs old

Way to go light! Confound the note takers!

maybe its time to develop a telescope that can gaze around planetary and celestial bodies. give the hubble a lazy eye.

so cool, the applications are mind boggling

Sounds awesome. Now, let's create a vaccine for AIDS.

does this mean i can get that cool predator armor camoflage thingie? ;-P

"light has thrown us a curve ball."

And I think we might have caught it. Go team!

Announcement seek true possibilities of laser pointer!!

did the light choose to curve or was it born that way?

Hey, and we didn't even need the LHC for this one.

Yay! Maybe we can get lightsabre's now!! If so, I'm so getting one.

Fiiber optics doesn't seem so innovative now if we can manipulate the light beam. Move over fios, this is the future of communication and then some.

if i'm getting this right, then you guys haven't gotten the gist of the story.. because all the light outside, inside, even in the dark, is not entirely composed of Airy beams.. there is no practical large scale use. So far, it is on the micro/cellular scale as mentioned.

still.. this is pretty sweet.

this could be an immense step in telecommunication. utilizing light to transmit information and sending to a destination without the worry of objects blocking its path could be a future implementation of this science.

Can you say 360 degree displays?

It has never even occurred to me that light doesn't bend, it reflects off things but doesn't curve. Like, imagine turning on a flashlight that curves to the left or right but not straight ahead.

Am I the only one who never thought about that before?

And my physics teacher always told me that it was impossible to bend light without gravity.

One step closer to buying a 6 dollar light saber at Walmart. I get the shivers just thinking about it.

Invisibility field time...

There is a practical use for video games in there somewhere.

Since we know how to bend light now, is there any way to make someone invisible by bending the light around them?

I say we use this technology in the future to propel our spaceships through galaxy's at the speed of light without the frightening thought of crashing into a planet at the speed of light.
Bravo fellas

Woah.