This isn’t a computer-generated scenario, but rather a team of Japanese scientists has actually managed to levitate small particles, moving them around mid-air, using ultrasound.
According to the research paper: „In the present study, we considered extended acoustic manipulation whereby millimetre-sized particles were levitated and moved three-dimensionally by localised ultrasonic standing waves, which were generated by ultrasonic phased arrays.“
Here’s a bit more info from the paper: „Our manipulation system has two original features. One is the direction of the ultrasound beam, which is arbitrary because the force acting toward its centre is also utilised. The other is the manipulation principle by which a localised standing wave is generated at an arbitrary position and moved three-dimensionally by opposed and ultrasonic phased arrays. We experimentally confirmed that various materials could be manipulated by our proposed method.“
Official Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odJxJRAxdFU
http://io9.com/scientists-master-levitation-of-small-objects-with-soun-1492781926
