The Mary Sue

Watch Scientists Levitate Objects with Ultrasound Waves [Video]

How about the power of flight? That do anything for ya? That's levitation, Holmes.

by Dan Van Winkle Jan 2nd

Here we have a video demonstrating three-dimensinal mid-air acoustic manipulation, or freaking levitating for short. Scientists in Japan have taken a technique to suspend small objects in the air with ultrasound waves and created an array of wave emitters capable of levitating objects in any direction, because science is basically magic.

Fine-Tuning Drugs With Sonic Levitation Is As Cool As It Sounds

by Ian Chant Sep 13th

Nope, it's not an illusion or a trick -- that's just what it looks like when you suspend particles of a liquid in mid-air using an awesome technique known as acoustic levitation. Those two pedestals are actually speakers, transmitting sound waves at 22 khz -- just outside the range that humans can hear. By transmitting waves that interfere with one another perfectly, scientists can create points in the wave form where no energy is transferred, effectively canceling out gravity at that point, called a node. Pretty cool right? You have no idea -- hit the jump to for video of acoustic levitation doing it's thing, which is totally spectacular.