A team of scientists developed a real-life tractor beam that can levitate an object using sound waves.
Published in the journal Nature Communications, the new study details how the "sonic tractor beam" can manipulate a tiny object using pressure from sound waves. The researchers believe their work can be applied to medicine in order to design more targeted, focused treatments, Live Science reported.
"It was an incredible experience the first time we saw the object held in place by the tractor beam," study lead author Asier Marzo, a PhD student at the University of Sussex, said in a press release. "All my hard work has paid off. It's brilliant."
What the researchers achieved was not a first, as levitation has been accomplished using laser beams and magnetism, but the technique is new, and fairly simple.
"Different fields can exert forces on remote objects," Marzo told The Washington Post. "And each field has its advantages and disadvantages. Magnetic levitation is powerful but restricted in reach, not very controllable and limited on the materials that can be levitated. Optical levitation exerts very weak forces, and quantum levitation even weaker ones. Using sound waves has several advantages: sound waves have the best ratio of input power to exerted force. Sound can travel through air, water and human tissue."
The researchers stated they can use their technique to design drug capsules that will release medication under particular acoustic conditions. This could allow for more targeted medical treatments.
"We all know that soundwaves can have a physical effect," study co-author Bruce Drinkwater, a professor of ultrasonics at the University of Bristol, said in the release. "But here we have managed to control the sound to a degree never previously achieved."
