[Flipside]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-29708358

To be honest, I didn't know we'd dragged stuff 2cm, but a this 'Tractor Beam' can push/pull objects up to 20cm.

Unfortunately, it won't work in space

[Phantom Hoover]

i like how readily popular science journalism reaches straight for the handbook of lazy sci-fi analogies

[Flipside]

It is probably about a wrong as name for it as could have been thought of, considering it is actually designed to miss the object it is moving.

[Spoon]

It is probably about a wrong as name for it as could have been thought of, considering it is actually designed to miss the object it is moving.

It's a tractor beam that moves an object closer by moving the rest of the world away?

[Dragon]

i like how readily popular science journalism reaches straight for the handbook of lazy sci-fi analogies

There's a very good reason for that. If you start throwing jargon at layman, they won't know what you're talking about. If you start talking in Star Trek and Star Wars terms, they'll get the general idea, which you can then elaborate on. Popular science is, by definition, aimed at laymen.

[Flipside]

It is probably about a wrong as name for it as could have been thought of, considering it is actually designed to miss the object it is moving.

It's a tractor beam that moves an object closer by moving the rest of the world away?

Hehe, it heats up the air molecules around the object (which is a .5mm glass ball), which causes the object to move through a sort of energy differential, so in weird a way, yes, I suppose it does.

[Charismatic]

Very impressive. I wish they had a video of it.