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Levitation Discovered: Hoverboards Coming Soon

We might not have to wait until 2015 for a hoverboard after all, as scientists at the University of St Andrews in Scotland have succeeded in making levitation a reality. By using an already existing lens to reverse what is known as the Casimir Effect, physicists Professor Ulf Leonhardt and Dr Thomas Philbin have managed to make a force which repels instead of attracting.

The Casimir force works at the quantum level, where energy fluctuations can have a huge effect on particle attraction. In theory the new force can be scaled up to levite people, although at first it is likely to be used as a kind of non-stick coating inside circuits.

Here at the Lab, though, we're more psyched by the possiblilities of frictionless bike hubs, floating beer bottles and of course, Marty McFly's floating marvel.