Professor Xian Zhanga from UC Berkley and a government research team say they are a step closer to developing materials that could render people and objects invisible. More info after the jump.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Researchers have demonstrated for the first time they were able to cloak three-dimensional objects using artificially engineered materials that redirect light around the objects.

Previously, they only have been able to cloak very thin two-dimensional objects.

The findings, by scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, are to be released later this week in the journals Nature and Science.

The new work moves scientists a step closer to hiding people and objects from visible light, which could have broad applications, including military ones.

People can see objects because they scatter the light that strikes them, reflecting some of it back to the eye.

Cloaking uses materials, known as metamaterials, to deflect radar, light or other waves around an object.

Metamaterials are mixtures of metal and circuit board materials such as ceramic, Teflon or fibre composite.