Engineers at Tufts University have developed new methods to more efficiently manufacture materials that exhibit abnormal behavior when interacting with microwave energy, which has potential effects on telecommunications, GPS, radar, mobile devices, and medical equipment. They are called metamaterials, sometimes referred to as "impossible materials" because in theory they can bend the energy around objects to make them appear invisible, concentrate energy transfer into a focused beam, or have chameleon-like capabilities To reconfigure their absorption or transmission in different frequency ranges.