Morphsuit Pulls 'Invisibility Suit' April Fools' Stunt

invisibility morphsuit — Invisible Morphsuit in action. (Image credit: Morphsuits)

Editor's Note: This article was updated at 9:46 a.m. and 3:12 p.m. ET April 1, to specify that the story was an April Fools joke by the company Morphsuit, and that the invisibility suit is not real.

The costume company Morphsuits pulled an April Fools' prank on journalists today, announcing in a press release that they had created a costume that makes its wearer invisible.

The release stated that the "Hollow Man Morphsuit" works using sophisticated image projection and "light-bending" technology to render its wearer invisible to the naked eye, even while the person is moving.

"Each year, we think April Fools' stimulates some of the most creative and funny stories from brands," the company wrote in an email to Live Science. "We're absolutely thrilled with how much everyone seemed to like our story, and the crowning glory was people truly believing this could be real." [Photos: Best Science-Themed Halloween Costumes]

Morphsuits claimed that former NASA scientist Mark Rober led a team that developed the patent-pending "MirrorMorph" technology, which consists of spandex material embedded with thousands of micro-LEDs and mirrors and dozens of small cameras perched at just the right angle to project an image "through" the wearer. The company added that the suits were available for pre-order from the company's website for roughly $1,660 (999.99 British pounds).

While the invisibility Morphsuit doesn't exist, scientists have developed cloaking devices that reroute microwaves to make objects invisible at those wavelengths of light, but these cloaked objects remain visible to humans.

Harry Potter fans may have to wait a bit longer for their invisibility cloak, it seems.

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Tanya was a staff writer for Live Science from 2013 to 2015, covering a wide array of topics, ranging from neuroscience to robotics to strange/cute animals. She received a graduate certificate in science communication from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a bachelor of science in biomedical engineering from Brown University. She has previously written for Science News, Wired, The Santa Cruz Sentinel, the radio show Big Picture Science and other places. Tanya has lived on a tropical island, witnessed volcanic eruptions and flown in zero gravity (without losing her lunch!). To find out what her latest project is, you can visit her website.