Real-life Harry Potter technologies

The evil wizards in the new movie Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 sneer at magic-less humans they call "Muggles." It seems like the wizards in Harry Potter have all the fun, with their magical potions and objects. Or do they?

Though ordinary Muggles may never be able to turn invisible or even cast a simple Expelliarmus Charm, real-life science is bringing us closer to having technologies that are practically indistinguishable from magic.

An actual invisibility cloak, for instance. This past summer scientists at Tufts University published research on their "first large area metamaterial structures" made up of artificially engineered compounds that interact with specific wavelengths of light in ways that organic compounds do not.

They have a property known as a negative refractive index that allows for electromagnetic wave manipulation greater than that of other natural compounds. Even more recently and in the same vein, a group of Scottish physicists crafted another metamaterially composed work dubbed "Metaflex," which is able to bend light around an object inside material, rather than absorb light. With advances like these, full-on invisibility cloaking isn't going to be a fairy tale for much longer.

Although it may be some time before flight-capable Quidditch brooms hit the market, New Zealand's Martin Aircraft may have something to tide the masses over the world's first commercial jetpack. Since the jetpack was first publicized, over 1,600 order inquiries have been sent to Martin. And after recently making it onto Time magazine's 50 best inventions of 2010, there will most likely be more. Production is stymied by safety and engineering review costs the company is currently looking to raise venture funding of around $10 million but one could soon be yours for upward of $80,000.

Flying car, Skele-gro in development

In one of the more memorable scenes from the second Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry and Ron drive a flying car to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry after missing the train. It turns out that an actual flying car is very close to being available and on sale.

A small, privately held company called Terrafugia gained Federal Aviation Association approval earlier this year for its flying car, The Transition. It's reportedly only a year away from being commercially available, but it'll cost you around $194,000. Looking for something more heavy-duty? The Defense Advance Research Projects Agency is working on a self-flying Humvee.

Being a wizard is fraught with magical dangers, and naturally there are magical treatments as well. The "Skele-Gro" potion helps Harry Potter regrow the bones in his arm after a Quidditch accident in his second year at Hogwarts. In real life someday regrowing limbs might not require a magical drink. The U.S. Army's regenerative medicine institute has been working on advanced treatment options for those who have been severely wounded. While researchers haven't yet been able to regrow full limbs, the treatments have been able to enhance patients' own abilities to rebound from wounds, helping them to recover lost skin, muscle and bone.

So fellow Muggles, envy not. Technologies like invisibility cloaks and flying cars may one day soon make real wizards of us all.