They have several experienced partners on board, e.g. Lynn Turk, a former U.S. diplomat with expertise in North Korean affairs, Robert Fox, a fomer group vice chairman of investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort Benson. See the list of the investment team members.

There are certainly a lot of risks. But as Colin McAskill (the fund's exclusive investment advisor) said: ''They have gold, silver, zinc, masses of iron ore, all that the rest of the world, particularly China, needs right now'''

"At the Army's Natick Soldier Systems Center, a prototype First Strike Ration (PDF) has been developed, to supply high-energy cuisine that needs no preparation. The meal includes a trio of small sandwiches, "zapple sauce" -- a carbohydrate-enhanced apple mush -- and caffeinated gum, according to Natick combat feeding scientist Diane Wood. The center has also funded research into transdermal patches that would deliver nutrients, just as nicotine patches give ex-smokers their fixes.

Finally, Natick handed out grants to study how certain herbs might enhance endurance and mental alertness. Dave Gangemi, the director of Clemson University's Institute for Nutraceutical Research, received a three-year, $900,000 grant to examine the effects of echinacea and other plants. He believes extracts from the herb can be added to rations -- and that should give soldiers an extra oomph."

For more reading:

A metamaterial (or meta material) is a material which gains its properties from its structure rather than directly from its composition. To distinguish metamaterials from other composite materials, the metamaterial label is usually used for a material which has unusual properties. The term was coined in 1999 by Rodger M. Walser of the University of Texas at Austin. He defined metamaterials as:^[1]

Macroscopic composites having a manmade, three-dimensional, periodic cellular architecture designed to produce an optimized combination, not available in nature, of two or more responses to specific excitation.

Among electromagnetics researchers, the term is often used, quite narrowly, for materials which exhibit negative refraction [invisibilitiy].

The first metamaterials were developed by W.E. Kock in the late 1940s with metal-lens antennas^[2] and metallic delay lenses^[3]."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_refractive_index#Negative_refractive_index

For description of the military's use of meta materials to create invisibility cloaks, see: