The BBC and others noted, for example, when a flat region was hidden under a "carpet", when the carpet hid a 3D object, and when the carpet was dispensed with and a 3D object was hidden in "free space".

BBC: Invisibility cloaks: Will we ever really have them?

Although cleared by one court - held under sharia or Islamic law - in the nearby emirate of Ras-al-Khaimah, she has been tried for a second time, under civil law, on charges of possessing 50g cocaine found hidden in the roof space of her flat.

BBC: Stewardess's drugs trial ends

It also makes it easier to find the files that have been created, accessed and modified during an attack, and it is able to reconstruct deleted files from raw data found in various hidden parts of a computer's hard disk, such as unallocated space and file slack.

ECONOMIST: Forensic computing studies the anatomy of computer crime

In one downstairs, there's a hidden toilet area, lighted with an Ingo Maurer winged bulb, as well as a vast shower and bath space, complete with rock-covered walls.

WSJ: Jane Friedman's New York Apartment: A Home That Books Built