A new device renders 3-D graphics that users can grab, drag and rotate. Such interactive visuals — which can be seen without a VR headset — could help create new hands-on educational tools or museum exhibits. They might also be used to make 3-D artwork or video games.

Bouzbib and colleagues at the Public University of Navarre in Pamplona, Spain, replaced the flat screen with a row of elastic strips like the ones used in the waistbands of stretchy pants. Users could then reach down into the display, fingers slipping through the oscillating strips, to touch virtual objects. Cameras tracking the user’s hand allowed them to pinch, swipe, spin and otherwise manipulate the graphics.