Researchers in Tokyo have put a new twist on the use of sound to suspend objects in air. They've used ultrasonic standing waves to trap pieces of wood, metal, and water – and even move them around.

Tractor beams have hit the big time. A newly constructed device generates a beam of concentrated sound that, for the first time, exerts a continuous, perceptible tug on objects large enough to see.

Researchers recently created an acoustic hologram, or a 3D sound field projected onto a 2D space, which can be used as acoustic tweezers, cages and twisters that manipulate objects as they levitate in ...

Scientists have been able to use the power of sound to levitate small items — including insects and fish — for decades. But now researchers in Switzerland have figured out how to move objects around ...

Acoustic levitation is some day going to be used to brush the dust off machinery on Mars. Learn why sound can lift objects off the ground and see an acoustic levitation chamber in action. “Sticks and ...

Researchers have come up with a new and improved way to levitate objects using sound waves alone, an impressive feat of mixed-reality technology that could pave the way for some seriously futuristic ...

An artist's rendering shows an acoustic hologram trapping a particle over a levitation device. Courtesy Asier Marzo, Bruce Drinkwater and Sriram Subramanian It's no Mattel hoverboard. But a device ...

Researchers have succeeded in directing floating objects around an aquatic obstacle course using only soundwaves. Their novel, optics-inspired method holds great promise for biomedical applications ...

A metamaterial is a composite material that exhibits unique properties due to its structure, and now researchers have used one featuring a small sawtooth pattern on its surface to move and position ...

The Oxford English Dictionary defines an object as “something placed before or presented to the eyes or other senses”, which conveys the idea that objects correspond to sensory experiences that are ...

It may seem straight out of "Star Trek," but it's real: Scientists have created a sonic "tractor beam" that can pull, push and pirouette objects that levitate in thin air. The sonic tractor beam ...