In 2018, Arthur Ashkin won the Nobel Prize in Physics for inventing optical tweezers: laser beams that can be used to manipulate microscopic particles. While useful for many biological applications, ...

A study published last month by University of Minnesota mechanical engineering researchers has the potential to make waves – ultrasonic waves, to be exact – in fields like surgery and manufacturing. U ...

Researchers in Switzerland have found a way of using sound waves to manipulate objects in disordered environments such as liquids. Instead of trapping the objects as conventional optical and acoustic ...

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

Something struck NASA’s Stardust spacecraft at a speed that defied all expectations—an object moving at nearly 13,650 miles ...

The metamaterial created by Zhang is used to push and rotate an object adorned with the University of Wisconsin’s Bucky the Badger. NEW ORLEANS, May 20, 2025 – Sound can do more than just provide a ...

Scientists have built a novel sonic tractor beam that can lift and move objects using sound waves. High-amplitude sound waves are used to generate an acoustic hologram which can pick up and move small ...

Gene Roddenberry would be beaming with pride right now to see the scientific community hellbent on making his science fiction into science fact. Gene did actually get to see some of his ideas turn ...

The researchers were able to levitate and transport items ranging from a droplet of water to a toothpick. They did so using pairs of sound-emitting platforms and reflector sheets. Sound leaves the ...

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.

Levitation isn't just for mystics anymore. A Japanese technology team has demonstrated ultrasonic levitation of objects that for the first time works in three dimensions. This means that as opposed to ...