Dr. Who's Sonic Screwdriver a Step Closer To Reality

Posted by samzenpus on Monday April 30, 2012 @03:40AM from the daleks-are-coming dept.

cylonlover writes "A University of Dundee research team led by Prof. Mike MacDonald has demonstrated that both levitation and twisting forces can be applied to an object by application of ultrasonic beams. The team of physicists at the University of Dundee in Scotland (with associates at Bristol University in England) have succeeded in generating an ultrasonic vortex beam strong enough to lift and rotate a rubber disk submerged in water. This latest breakthrough is part of a wide-ranging U.K. research effort to develop a device not unlike the "sonic screwdriver" made famous by the TV series Doctor Who." We covered the beginning of the sonic screwdriver project by Bristol University engineers a little over a year ago.

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I bet theirs works... by scrib · 2012-04-30 03:54 · Score: 4, Funny

I bet THEIR Sonic Screwdriver works on WOOD!

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Help! Help! I'm being repressed!
Clarke's third law by Overzeetop · 2012-04-30 04:16 · Score: 3, Funny

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic

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Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
1. Re:Clarke's third law by Auroch · 2012-04-30 04:26 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Any sufficiently repeated quote is indistinguishable from intelligent thought
  Fixed that for you.
  
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  Quartz Extreme and Core Image. Are there any other real reasons to spend all that money on generic hardware?
Honestly by s73v3r · 2012-04-30 04:47 · Score: 3, Funny

Who looks at a screwdriver and thinks, "Hey, this could be more sonic!"?