Powerful acoustic vibrations can lift things like toothpicks or water droplets into mid-air, but now researchers have managed to set tiny particles in a dance between shifting, overlapping ultrasonic beams that could shift them around a small cubic space.
In a video by the researchers from the University of Tokyo and Nagoya Institute of Technology, the roughly millimeter-sized balls, composed of polystyrene, perform the most impressive stunts, the Verge reported.
While the sound must be extremely intense, its high frequency makes it inaudible to human ears, and levitation can open up new ways for the researchers to manipulate objects.