Star Trek style 'tractor beam' created by scientists

A real-life "tractor beam", which uses light to attract objects, has been developed by scientists. It is hoped it could have medical applications by targeting and attracting individual cells.The research, published in Nature Photonics and led by the University of St Andrews, is limited to moving microscopic particles. In 2011, researchers from China and Hong Kong showed how it might be done with laser beams of a specific shape - and the US space agency Nasa has even funded a study to examine how the technique might help with manipulating samples in space.