Cloak unfurled

Research to find more accurate GPS systems and secure communications for e-commerce.

Research to find more accurate GPS systems and secure communications for e-commerce is just one of the examples of cooperation between British and Korean scientists and academics which will be highlighted during President Park's state visit. Part of the young discipline of quantum technologies, the research includes catching and moving atoms around to build new types of instrumentation. The work will be demonstrated when the President visits Imperial College London tomorrow. She will also learn about the 'invisibility cloak', first proposed by Imperial's Professor Sir John Pendry, the theoretical physicist, and which has captured public imagination following the Harry Potter films ... Cooperation between the two countries includes the creation of plastic electronics and of body sensors which can monitor patients after operations and the movement of athletes in training. Professor James Stirling, college provost, says: 'Imperial academics published more than 1,000 research papers with Korean colleagues in the last decade alone. At Imperial we apply the best research for the benefit of our economy and society. It is highly welcome that President Park - a trained engineer - is pursuing a complementary agenda. There is a sense of excitement among the UK scientific community at the prospect of building further ties with their Korean peers.'