Researchers Are Almost Certain That They Can Recreate Doctor Who’s Sonic Screwdriver

While we probably won’t travel through time anytime soon, we might just be able to have sonic screwdrivers just like Doctor Who sometime in the near future thanks to some very determined researchers and the magic of ultrasonic sound waves.

Apparently ultrasonic engineers at Bristol University and The Big Bang: UK Young Scientists and Engineers Fair are working on sorting out a way to recreate the sonic screwdriver by spinning ultrasonic waves “at high speed to create a twisting force similar to that of a miniature tornado, which could undo screws remotely. They have also experimented with rotating ultrasonic force fields which would act like the head of a real screwdriver.”

Of course it’ll be a while before the research can produce an actual tool, but the confidence displayed by the researchers is pretty encouraging. [Bristol University via Slashdot]

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