So you take a laser and you shoot it into the air, creating a true 3-D image that anyone can view from any angle. Can’t be done, you say? Science fiction, you say?

Well, the Japanese Institute for Doing The Impossible[1] has proven you wrong again by creating just such a device. Take that! It’s no trick, either. The device uses a high-powered laser to ignite the atmosphere[2], tracing its trail of destruction into pleasing shapes for us. Better yet, while I wasn’t looking they improved the contraption, making the image brighter and apparently giving it the ability to display Japanese. In Japan, no less!

Will wonders never cease?

[Thanks, Nick!]

[1] a loose translation
[2] tiny parts of it, admittedly