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.

Acoustic tractor beam technology has been making waves in physics since it was first proposed by Dr. Philip Marston in 2006 at Washington State University. His work was published in The Journal of the ...

WASHINGTON – Tractor beams, energy rays that can move objects, are a science fiction mainstay. But now they are becoming a reality -- at least for moving very tiny objects. Researchers from the ...

An ever-handy device, a tractor beam from a Galaxy-class starship holds the small Delta Flyer spacecraft in place on "Star Trek: Voyager." Got a derelict spaceship you need to tow back to star base?

In the future of the Star Trek series, the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise would occasionally need to tow another ship. When they did so, they didn't pull out the tow cables - they used a beam of light ...

Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Portable Acoustic Tractor Beam: build it at your home In 2015 ...

Yesterday, the space agency announced that it has started funding research into three different approaches in the hopes that one of those approaches pan out into an actual, working tractor beam.

There's no escaping it: Though the tractor beam is a staple of sci-fi space-faring scenarios, it's also extremely counter-intuitive. How does one pull something in via an outward-shooting beam? A few ...

The tubes of the Internet saw some extra traffic recently when NASA announced funding for a team of researchers to study tractor beams. That’s right, tractor beams, as in Star Trek and Star Wars (and ...

It’s not nearly powerful enough to pull in Han Solo’s Millennium Falcon, but four groups of physicists have independently come up with the same basic idea for a real-life tractor beam. The laser beam ...

From The Skylark of Space to Star Wars, no self-respecting science fiction spaceship would break orbit without a tractor beam on board. We’re still a long way from locking on to errant shuttlecraft, ...

Last year, we looked at three potential “tractor beam” technologies being evaluated by NASA to deliver planetary or atmospheric particles to a robotic rover or orbiting spacecraft. At the time, the ...