Slashdot Mirror


British Engineers Create Sonic Tractor Beam (bbc.co.uk)

An anonymous reader writes: According to the BBC, engineers in Bristol, England have created a system for remote manipulation of physical objects using sound holograms. The video shows pea-sized objects being dragged around and stacked up in mid-air with no visible means of support. "In essence, an object sitting in a 'quiet' region of space can be held there if it is surrounded by very high-intensity sound waves. As the pattern of that boundary shifts, the object can be moved around." If the Empire is making a tractor beam, now they only need a Death Star to go with it.

3 of 88 comments (clear)

  1. Ah yes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    A tractor beam, that relies on waves propagating through matter, that will work in the nearly matterless void that is space, right?

  2. Just one more thing... by msauve · · Score: 2, Insightful

    "If the Empire is making a tractor beam, now they only need a Death Star to go with it."

    Well, that and an atmosphere.

    --
    "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
  3. What happened to Slashdot? by U2xhc2hkb3QgU3Vja3M · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The reference should obviously had been either Dr. Who or Star Trek. Fuck Star Wars, it's the Wizard of Oz in space.