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Acoustic Levitation Works On Small Animals

anthemaniac writes "Researchers for at least two decades have used acoustic levitation to suspend light materials without a container. Wenjun Xie, a materials physicist at Northwestern Polytechnical University in China, has previously used ultrasound fields to levitate globs of iridium and mercury, very heavy materials. Now the scientist has performed the feat with live animals. From the story: 'Xie and his colleagues employed an ultrasound emitter and reflector that generated a sound pressure field between them. The emitter produced roughly 20-millimeter-wavelength sounds, meaning it could in theory levitate objects half that wavelength or less.' Apparently the ants, spiders and ladybugs endured the trick just fine, but the fish didn't do so well due to lack of water."

26 of 182 comments (clear)

  1. Fish difficulties? Not for me. by Red+Flayer · · Score: 4, Funny
    Apparently the ants, spiders and ladybugs endured the trick just fine, but the fish didn't do so well due to lack of water."
    Well, if you put the fish in water, for some reason the restriction on the size of the fish being 1/2 the wavelength disappears.

    It's even easier to get fish to levitate in water if you never feed them.
    --
    "Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
  2. I for one... by EvilTwinSkippy · · Score: 2, Funny

    I for one welcome our levitating ant overlords.

    --
    "Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival."
    --Dr.W.Edwards Deming
    1. Re:I for one... by EvilTwinSkippy · · Score: 4, Funny
      That's deaf levitating ant overlords to you. :)

      WHAT???

      --
      "Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival."
      --Dr.W.Edwards Deming
  3. Re:Small Aminals? by BWJones · · Score: 5, Funny

    Come on. A spider ISN'T an aminal. (sic)

    And this ladies and gentlemen is why we need better education funding and resources with a greater focus on math and science in schools, not to mention spelling and grammar. :-)

    --
    Visit Jonesblog and say hello.
  4. Re:Small Aminals? by spun · · Score: 5, Funny

    That is SO mammalist of you. Expect a call from the PC police.

    --
    - None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
  5. Thats nothing by LiquidCoooled · · Score: 5, Funny

    I was once lay on the bed and my cat decided to curl up in the small of my back.
    When I let out a ripper of a fart I swear he hovered right there for about 15 seconds.

    (Incidentally, after that event he never lay on my back again)

    --
    liqbase :: faster than paper
  6. Not for me either by krell · · Score: 3, Funny

    "It's even easier to get fish to levitate in water if you never feed them."

    One stick of dynamite does the job a lot quicker.

    --
    Where were you when the voynix came?
    1. Re:Not for me either by Red+Flayer · · Score: 3, Funny
      One stick of dynamite does the job a lot quicker.
      Yeah, but last time I did that, my mom^H^H^Hwife got a little upset about the mess in the basement.
      --
      "Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
    2. Re:Not for me either by krell · · Score: 4, Funny

      "Attempts at levitating large creatures such as whales using this method have so far proved unsuccessful."

      Oh? Quite successful, considering the large amount of airborne blubber that resulted. At least for a few seconds, anyway.

      --
      Where were you when the voynix came?
  7. Technicality by Rob+T+Firefly · · Score: 5, Funny
    Apparently the ants, spiders and ladybugs endured the trick just fine
    Actually, they're fairly pissed. They only seem "just fine" because they lack the proper fingers to angrily flip off the scientists.
    1. Re:Technicality by ZombieRoboNinja · · Score: 5, Funny

      Especially the ladybugs, who hastened to emphasize that they can ALREADY FLY.

    2. Re:Technicality by EvilTwinSkippy · · Score: 2, Funny

      A ladybug needs a levitator like a fish needs a bicycle.

      --
      "Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival."
      --Dr.W.Edwards Deming
  8. Diminutive! by Short+Circuit · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'll have you know that none of those animals were small. The System Reference Document doesn't list them, but I'm confident they'd be identified as "diminutive," or smaller still.

  9. Re:Small Aminals? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    No, he's right. Spiders are not aminals.

  10. Bad day for arachnaphobics by ciaohound · · Score: 5, Funny

    Now it's levitating spiders? I am so screwed.

    --
    Oh, yeah, it's not easy to pad these out to 120 characters.
  11. Nothing new by MECC · · Score: 2, Funny

    AC/DC has been doing it for awhile.

    --
    "We are all geniuses when we dream"
    - E.M. Cioran
  12. Everybody knows... by SoundGuyNoise · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...that sheep do not fly as much as they do plummet.

    --
    You never expect irony, do you?
    Want to be a professional wrestler? Visit www.iyfwrestling.com
    @iyfwrestling
  13. Re:doesn't anyone think of the animals? by cunamara · · Score: 2, Funny

    As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly.

  14. Marvin the depressed ant by HangingChad · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'm just walking along, minding my own ant business, and all of sudden some jackass decides to levitate me. Oh, that's right, it's so funny to pick on the ants. Everyone picks on the ants. We're just trying to make a living and feed the queen...she gets to drink nectar. Think the rest of us get any nectar? Not us worker ants. You try running around blind trying to follow a scent trail during allergy season. We get stepped on, eaten by other bugs and birds...don't get me started. And then there's the nursery, those ingrates never get enough. Like it's not bad enough putting up with their crap along comes to the dominant species and thinks it's just SO funny to levitate us. Suppose I should be glad they didn't roast us under a magnifying glass like the neighbor kid. Little delinquent. I'll be he grows up to be a career criminal. It's all so meaningless.

    --
    That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
  15. I'll believe it by kick_in_the_eye · · Score: 5, Funny

    when pigs fly

  16. Re:Biological heating effects? by Clever7Devil · · Score: 3, Funny

    I'm glad someone else's mind went to resonant frequency on this one.

    "My new hoverboard was a lot of fun, until my duodenum imploded."

    --
    "By the time they had diminished from 50 to 8, the other dwarves began to suspect 'Hungry.'" -Gary Larson
  17. Re:Biological heating effects? by sm62704 · · Score: 2, Funny

    20 mm? That sounds more like a semicolon;

    --
    mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
  18. Your sig by sm62704 · · Score: 2, Funny

    This is absolutely true; I can provide photos (or you can come see for yourself)

    The defunct business next door to my house has signs saying "$500 reward leading to the arrest and conviction of persons destroying this property." There was what looked like a very weatherbeaten, unmaintained house and a large tin structure that looked like it too had not been maintained in years; gutters falling, etc.

    Then last March 12th two F2 tornados tore through here. It ripped the hell out of both structures (again, I took pictures). The structures were subsequently razed.

    So if you can find God and get him in court, $500 is yours for the taking!

    --
    mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
  19. Re:Small Aminals? by LunaticTippy · · Score: 3, Funny

    An aminal is a type of chemical compound that has two amine groups attached to the same carbon atom. Small aminals would have small amine groups attached to a regular-size carbon atom.

    --
    Man, you really need that seminar!
  20. Re:Biological heating effects? by sweetpapa · · Score: 2, Funny

    Interestingly, after levitating for several moments, all subjects were found to be deaf to ultrasound.

  21. Re:17 kHz is audible to humans and most animals by sm62704 · · Score: 2, Funny
    From your link:
    Hello, you either have JavaScript turned off or an old version of Macromedia's Flash Player. Get the latest flash player.
    Not very damned likely!
    --
    mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest