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Nature 438, 139 (10 November 2005) | doi:10.1038/438139a; Published online 9 November 2005

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Antigravity craft slips past patent officers

Philip Ball

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'Impossible' device gets seal of approval.

The US patent office has granted a patent on a design for an antigravity device — breaking its own resolution to reject inventions that clearly defy the laws of physics.This is not the first such patent to be granted, but it shows that patent examiners are being duped by false science, says physicist Robert Park, watchdog of junk science at the American Physical Society in Washington DC.