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Design

Back To The Future's Hoverboard Is Almost A Reality

Thanks to French Research Lab Matériaux et Phénomènes Quantiques’s “magsurf.”

Last month we were really bummed out when this viral video depicting a “real” anti-gravity race track turned out to be a big fat lie. But the levitation technique it demonstrated, achieved through the use of superconductors and quantum locking, is the real deal. As it turns out, a team of professors, researchers, and students from the French research lab Matériaux et Phénomènes Quantiques (Quantum Phenomena and Materials) at Université Paris Diderot – Paris 7, have built an actual prototype of a superconductive levitating skateboard that can hold up to 100 pounds.

The “Magsurf” (which could eventually use a nice design—neon or not) works because of the Meissner effect, levitating a few inches—without friction—above the track’s magnetic trails. Watch the whole thing come together in the video above.

Of course we’d like to see a trackless version someday, like Marty McFly’s below, but for now we’re satisfied with the fact that it’s under development and in our foreseeable future. If you’re lucky enough to be traveling through Paris, you can try it out for yourself at La Gaîté lyrique tomorrow and Saturday. Just make sure to wear your Power Laces.