Engineers in Bristol have developed a system that can grab, hold and move small objects without touching them, using "holograms" made of sound waves.
It offers the kind of remote control that naturally draws comparison with the "tractor beams" of science fiction.
So far the team has tested the design on small pea-sized objects, which they can manipulate from 30-40cm away.
Writing in Nature Communications, they suggest the work could help develop remote surgical instruments.
As reported in BBC News on the 27th of October, 2015.
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