According to the findings of a new research, carried out by physicists at the Universidat Autonoma de Barcelona, Spain, materials having a magnetic signature can effectively be concealed with the help of an `anti-magnet' that could cloak an object's magnetic response, leaving the external magnetic fields unchanged.

Revealing that the magnetic cloaking device can be made with isotropic magnetic materials and superconductors, the researchers are of the opinion that the cloak will essentially facilitate an unharmed movement of pacemaker patients across the MRI systems.

But then, on the downside, the cloak will also clearly help the criminals smuggle guns or bombs through metal detectors!

As per the study, published in the most recent edition of the New Journal of Physics, there are a number of layers that comprise the so-called `anti-magnet' - including a layer of superconducting substance to prevent the magnetic field of an object from leaking outside; and outer layers of "metamaterials" to make the object invisible by exacting the distortions from an outside magnetic field.

However, with the researchers having stressed that surrounding a magnetic object with a superconductor essentially frees the object from feeling any magnetic force, MIT professor of materials science Caroline Ross remains unconvinced --- noting that getting superconductivity at room temperature has been "the Holy Grail of physics" during the last few decades.

As such, Ross said that though it is quite apparent that the `anti-magnet' works in a computer, whether or not it works as effectively "in real life" still remains a big question!