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Researchers there have developed a way to levitate and propel objects using only light, by adding specific nanoscale patterning to their surface. Scientists have the ability to move and manipulate tiny objects with the use of ‘optical tweezers.’ The tweezers move objects via the radiative pressure from a sharply focused beam of laser light. However, this impressive tool can only move small very small objects a very limited distance. The trick is to create very specific patterns on the object's surface. These nanoscale patterns interact with the light so that the object keeps ‘righting’ itself if disturbed so that it...

A British illusionist has stunned on-lookers in London after seemingly 'levitating' off the roof of a moving double-decker bus. Thirty-year-old Dynamo, whose real name is Steven Frayne, looked totally at ease as he appeared to dangle in mid-air with only one hand resting on the bus to keep him from falling to the traffic below

U.S. scientists have found a way to levitate the very smallest objects using the strange forces of quantum mechanics, and said on Wednesday they might use it to help make tiny nanotechnology machines. They said they had detected and measured a force that comes into play at the molecular level using certain combinations of molecules that repel one another. The repulsion can be used to hold molecules aloft, in essence levitating them, creating virtually friction-free parts for tiny devices, the researchers said. Federico Capasso, an applied physicist at Harvard University in Massachusetts, whose study appears in the journal Nature, said...

Science Daily — St. Andrews scientists have discovered a new way of levitating tiny objects - paving the way for future applications in nanotechnology. Artist's impression of a mirror levitating using a repulsive version of the Casimir effect. (Credit: Image courtesy of University of St Andrews) Theoretical physicists at the University of St. Andrews have created 'incredible levitation effects' by engineering the force of nature which normally causes objects to stick together by quantum force. By reversing this phenomenon, known as 'Casimir force', the scientists hope to solve the problem of tiny objects sticking together in existing novel nanomachines. Professor...

Scientists have now levitated small live animals using sounds that are, well, uplifting. In the past, researchers at Northwestern Polytechnical University in Xi'an, China, used ultrasound fields to successfully levitate globs of the heaviest solid and liquid—iridium and mercury, respectively. The aim of their work is to learn how to manufacture everything from pharmaceuticals to alloys without the aid of containers. At times compounds are too corrosive for containers to hold, or they react with containers in other undesirable ways. "An interesting question is, 'What will happen if a living animal is put into the acoustic field?' Will it also...

Scientists levitate gold coins Scientists have shown that levitation is not just a trick from a Harry Potter book. Researchers at the University of Nottingham have used magnetism to make solid objects such as coins float in the air. Scientists have already proven strong, varying magnetic fields could exert an upward force on objects in their path. The Nottingham team found this effect could be dramatically enhanced in cold, magnetised oxygen. Magnetic levitation occurs when the magnetic force is strong enough to overcome gravity and balance a body's weight. Cold oxygen provides extra buoyancy through the "magneto-Archimedes" effect -...