Piezoelectric materials work quite simply, in theory — motion in, electricity out, or clamp versa — and given that’s only how speakers and microphones transmit their sound, it’s not much of the stretch to suppose someone would figure out audio upon the micron scale. That someone is MIT’s Yoel Fink, who’s reportedly engineered the marvelous routine for producing fibers which can detect as well as evacuate tune. Following up their important work on flexible cameras, Fink’s team discovered they could keep piezoelectric strands firm sufficient to produce heard vibrations by inserting graphite, AKA pencil lead. Better yet, the lab routine can apparently have the threads on the fairly vast scale, “agreeable tens of metres of piezoelectric fibre” at the singular draw. The intensity for fabric done from such fibers is illusory, of course — especially total with this particular scientist’s prior research into camera cloth.