For centuries, humans have dreamed of fading into the background. Hunters have long wished to vanish into their surroundings, and these days, awkward moments at parties can evoke similar desires. But the ability to truly disappear is still only found in tales spun by writers and filmmakers, as cloaking has remained the stuff of fantasy and science fiction. Thanks to some pioneering researchers, however, cloaking has moved one step closer to reality.

Six scientists have built a sophisticated metamaterial that literally bends electromagnetic waves, according to a new paper published Thursday in the journal Science. Ruopeng Liu and Chunlin Li, researchers in David R. Smith’s lab at Duke University, along with three other colleagues, assembled more than 10,000 specially designed pieces to form a mat 20 inches long and four inches wide. When finished, the yellow pad sucked microwaves in and spit them out—with a curve.

To test their new invention, researchers first beamed microwaves at a flat, mirrored surface. The waves behaved as they should, bouncing off at a predictable angle. Next they shot it at a bump in a mirrored surface. The microwaves bounced and scattered, carefully obeying the laws of physics. Then the scientists laid their yellow mat over the bump. And the wave ignored the bump—or so it seemed. After reflecting off the curved surface, the radiation veered downward and continued along a flat surface-trajectory. The mat had cloaked the bump.