A study published last month by University of Minnesota mechanical engineering researchers has the potential to make waves – ultrasonic waves, to be exact – in fields like surgery and manufacturing. U ...

Tractor beams have hit the big time. A newly constructed device generates a beam of concentrated sound that, for the first time, exerts a continuous, perceptible tug on objects large enough to see.

It may seem straight out of "Star Trek," but it's real: Scientists have created a sonic "tractor beam" that can pull, push and pirouette objects that levitate in thin air. The sonic tractor beam ...

Although movie and game producers can now create computer-animated images of just about anything, the sounds made by those onscreen items still typically consist of recordings of real-world objects.