Just weeks ago Hurricane Sandy pounded the east coast of the
United States with horrific consequences. But imagine a machine
that could make massive ocean waves simply disappear. Or, more
precisely, a way of geoforming the ocean floor to almost
eliminate surface waves. Sessions at the 65th annual meeting of
the American Physical Society’s division of fluid dynamics
include presumably fascinating talks on “Bubbles,” “Vortex,”
“General Fluids,” and “Drops.” Not to mention “Bubbles II.” One
paper being presented, however, has a less pedestrian title: “A
Cloak of Invisibility Against Ocean Waves.” Reza Alam, a
professor of mechanical engineering at the University of
California, Berkeley, will be speaking about a way he has
discovered of neutralizing ocean waves in near-shore or off-
shore areas. The magic — or the science — lies in the fact that,
as Alam explained to Phys.org, the ocean is stratified into
layers: warmer, less dense water at the top, and colder, heavier
water at the bottom. Each layer has waves: su