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.

In laboratories from Brazil to Munich, researchers are learning to grab matter with sound alone, sculpting ultrasonic waves into invisible “hands” that can lift, push, and rotate objects without a ...

Where there's water, there are waves. But what if you could bend water waves to your will to move floating objects? Scientists have now developed a technique to merge waves in a water tank to produce ...

Physically, sound is just pressure moving through a medium. If you harness that pressure correctly, you can actually push things around using nothing but sound. That's exactly what researchers at ...

Alfredo has a PhD in Astrophysics and a Master's in Quantum Fields and Fundamental Forces from Imperial College London. Alfredo has a PhD in Astrophysics and a Master's in Quantum Fields and ...

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 ...

Researchers manipulated water waves to move ping pong balls with a level of precision that seems straight out of a sci-fi movie. Reading time 3 minutes Imagine hopping onto a large floatie in a lake ...

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, ...

In fiction, magic makes levitation easy. With a simple swish-and-flick of his wand, Ron Weasley yanks a troll’s club high above its head in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Through graceful ...

A strange form of matter called a time crystal has fascinated physicists for about a decade. These systems move in repeating ...