Levitation

Magnetic levitation is used to float things like lamps and trains, but usually it requires a power source. Now, scientists in Japan have developed a way to make a floating platform that requires no external power, out of regular old graphite.

Although we may think of flying saucers as craft used by aliens in movies, MIT scientists are now proposing utilizing one of their own to explore the Moon. The vehicle would hover above the lunar surface via the force of electrostatic repulsion.

The Mars Helicopter drone may be scheduled to launch soon, but it's still just a single aircraft that will be useless if it conks out. With that in mind, scientists are now looking into an alternative – fleets of tiny, cheap "Nanocardboard Flyers."

An advanced "sound tweezer" can manipulate dozens of objects independently using hundreds of tiny speakers, allowing for noninvasive surgery and a new, highly interactive type of 3D display.

Researchers at the University of Sussex have developed SoundBender, a technology that bends sound waves around obstacles to acoustically levitate objects above them.

In 2018 we have almost become jaded by levitating objects. You name it and there is likely a levitating iteration, from turntables to cloud-shaped lamps. Joining that list is the LeviZen, a water-levitating device that uses acoustic levitation to suspend a droplet in mid-air.

Levitation usually only works with particles or tiny objects, but scientists from the University of Bristol have developed a new “acoustic tractor beam” that can trap larger objects, possibly paving the way for contactless production lines or even human levitation.

​​Brooklyn-based designer Richard Clarkson has been experimenting with artificial cloud designs for several years now. His latest invention is the Floating Cloud – a magnetically levitating ambient lamp that flickers through different colored LED modes in response to the sound in a room.​

Hyperloop crossed another milestone in January with the very first test runs being performed in a vacuum as part of the SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition. New Atlas caught up with VicHyper, one of 27 teams who converged on SpaceX HQ, to chat about how the competition went and what happens next.

​Levitation may look like magic, but there are a few scientific tricks behind it. Magnetic systems, optical levitation and acoustics only work with certain objects, but researchers at the University of Chicago have developed a method to levitate basically anything, using differences in temperature.

Levitating Bluetooth speakers have been around for a while now but remain a relatively niche item. LG Electronics aims to be the firm to bring them into the mainstream with its newly-unveiled PJ9, which promises 10 hours of battery life and automatically descends to charge when juice gets low.

Slovenia's Mag-Lev Audio is currently Kickstarting a design that makes use of magnets, sensors and custom software to levitate the platter above the base, keep it perfectly stable and spin it at album or single playback speeds – adding a wow factor visual feast to the vinyl listening experience.