Bristol University

New research shows that swarms of insects like bees and locusts can actually produce atmospheric electric charges. By measuring the extent of this influence, the team found that large swarms could produce as much charge as a storm cloud.

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.

Paleontologists have long wondered about the skeletons of a strange, ancient fish family called heterostracan. But now UK scientists say they’ve cracked it, declaring the 400 million-year-old fossils to be the oldest examples of bone ever found.

Cartilage grown in a flat Petri dish may not be optimally-shaped for replacing the body's own natural cartilage parts. Scientists from a consortium of UK universities, however, are developing a possible solution. They're using "ultrasonic tweezers" to grow cartilage in mid-air.

Holodeck, anyone? Researchers at Bristol University are developing a system known as UltraHaptics that uses ultrasonic force fields to project the tactile sensations of objects in midair. Currently used for a haptic computer interface, the system might eventually enable touchable holograms.