Âé¶¹´«Ã½

Technology

'Cone of silence' keeps conversations secret

By Paul Marks

6 May 2009

Âé¶¹´«Ã½. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.

Would you mind not listening?

(Image: OJO Images / Rex Features)

IN Get Smart, the 1960s TV spy comedy, secret agents wanting a private conversation would deploy the , a clear plastic contraption lowered over the agents’ heads. It never worked – they couldn’t hear each other, while eavesdroppers could pick up every word. Now a that we are assured will work is being patented by engineers Joe Paradiso and Yasuhiro Ono of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Their idea, revealed in on 16 April, is to make confidential conversations…

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