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In This Issue

Levitation, as a contactless technique to move and manipulate matter in air, has numerous potential applications in disciplines ranging from materials processing to biochemistry. State-of-the-art methods, which typically exploit electrostatic, magnetic, or optical principles to generate the force needed to offset gravity, are inherently limited to micrometer-scale particles and/or materials with specialized physical properties. To address these limitations, Daniele Foresti et al. (pp. 12549–12554) present an approach that advances acoustic levitation, offering precisely controlled motion and versatility, and a material independence that removes the need for laborious sample preparation. In acoustic levitation, sound waves between an emitting surface and reflector establish an acoustic field that can cancel out gravity and trap small quantities of matter like tiny liquid droplets in relatively stable, motionless regions known as nodes. The authors’ method modulates the levitating field in both space and time to precisely control and move these nodes, providing a means to simultaneously transport and process multiple objects. The authors also illustrate the techniques’ broad applicability with a range of experiments, including contactless droplet coalescence and mixing, solid–liquid encapsulation, and DNA transfection. — T.J.