Fairy Tale or Fact?

I ran across an interesting article the other day. Doubly interesting to me because my current work in progress, Heart of the Wolf, is a retelling of the Little Red Riding Hood fairy tale. (And trust me. This ain't your grandma's fairy tale!)

The article dealt in part with the tale of The Little Mermaid. (Remember that Ariel lost her voice due to a curse. Or, in the case of the Disney retelling, it was taken from her by the witch who granted her the wish for legs.)




Well, it seems that scientists have conducted research/tests to show how light waves can be bent around an object to make it appear invisible. Other scientists have taken that data and now have announced that it is theoretically possible to do the same thing with sound.

They established that it's possible to create a material that bends sound waves around walls, pillars or any enclosed space. The sound waves would emerge as if nothing had been in their way. For example, someone talking in the bedroom would be clearly heard by someone standing in the living room as if no walls had been there.

A side effect: Any sounds generated within that enclosed area (the area surrounded by the material bending the sound waves) would never escape. So if Ariel had been surrounded by a transparent sound shield (not a curse), she would in essence be voiceless.

Kinda makes you go hmmm, don't it?

And...happy Valentine's Day!