Scott Summers can project optical force beams from his eyes and use them to destroy walls or move objects around. An impossible feat to emulate? Never! 

We kept our noses on the ground and sniffed out a laboratory where scientists are developing a pair of “optical tweezers” that can hold and rotate small objects in mid-air.

Confused? Let's explain.

Lasers are beams of light that have only one wavelength - enabling them to focus on very small points.

When a laser hits a small glass bead it changes direction and exerts a small force on the medium it is travelling through. If the laser beam is powerful enough it can actually pull the glass bead directly into the centre of the beam.

A pair of “optical scissors” is short on this invention’s heel. By tuning the laser’s wavelength to exactly the right energy, the object can be cut in two.

Scientists hope to use this technology to manipulate cells, proteins, enzymes and DNA. (And for world domination of course...)

• How do lasers work? 
• Travelling light today? Riding laser beams to space...
• “Initially, the laser was called an invention looking for a job” (Harry Stine)
  Explore the (now) many uses for lasers.