Scientists Unveil Touchable, Floating 3D Holograms

The future just got way more…tangible.

For the first time ever, scientists have created 3D holograms that you can actually touch. We’re talking about fully interactive, mid-air graphics you can poke, grasp, and move around with your bare hands—no headset, no gloves, no sci-fi movie required.

First-Ever Touchable Holograms Could Redefine Reality

The research, uploaded March 6 to the HAL open archive, was paired with a demo video that shows the technology in action—hands reaching into thin air to grab holographic cubes, twist shapes, and push floating buttons like something out of a Marvel movie.

“We are used to direct interaction with our phones…it is natural and intuitive for humans,” said study lead author Asier Marzo, a professor of computer science at the Public University of Navarra. “This project enables us to use this natural interaction with 3D graphics to leverage our innate abilities of 3D vision and manipulation.”

Let’s pause to appreciate how wild this is. For years, holograms have stayed strictly look-but-don’t-touch—flashy in exhibitions, handy for smart glasses, and forever relegated to the untouchable realm of Iron Man-style fantasy. But now? You can grab a floating cube like it’s no big deal.

At the center of this breakthrough is something called a volumetric display, made possible by a fast-oscillating sheet called a diffuser. Traditionally, these sheets are rigid—meaning any attempt to touch the display could snap it or hurt you. Marzo’s team swapped in a still-undisclosed flexible material, letting the sheet safely respond to human hands. Then came the tricky part: correcting the holographic image in real time as the surface deformed.

The result? Touchable, dynamic holograms that don’t fall apart when you poke them.

While still in the experimental phase, the researchers will demo their work at the CHI conference in Japan this April. And if commercialized, this tech could seriously change how we interact with everything from museums to classrooms. “Displays such as screens and mobile devices are present in our lives for working, learning, or entertainment,” the researchers said. “Having three-dimensional graphics that can be directly manipulated has applications in education — for instance, visualising and assembling the parts of an engine.”

The coolest part? No headset needed. Forget touchscreens. The screen is the air now.