Scientists are a step closer to creating a cloaking device after making an object visible to the naked eye disappear for the first time.

In the past, researchers have only been able to "cloak" microscopic objects using extremely complicated physics and so-called meta-materials made on a tiny scale.

Fiction ... A still from the old Invisible Man TV series starring Vincent Ventresca ... and fact, a paper clip which scientists can now make invisible using crystals.

But a new study at the University of Birmingham in the UK has taken a major step forward by making a paper clip invisible - an object thousands of times bigger than in previous experiments.

The research works by using a naturally forming crystal called calcite which has extraordinary light-bending abilities.