Tahir Cagin, a professor at Texas A&M, along with researchers at University of Houston, have developed a new nanomaterial that converts sounds waves to energy. These materials, called piezoelectrics, have been around since the late 1800's, but the new tech increases their effectiveness by 100%. Generally, they are made of ceramics and produce voltage when a stress is applied.

The results were published in the journal Physical Review B (a/k/a, the 2nd most boring physical review journal).

The hope is that these materials will allow portable laptops, phones, and other devices to be completely free of the weight and hassle of batteries. Motion-based piezos are already being used in applications ranging from quartz watches to nightclub dancefloors.

In an age where your laptop's lithium ion batttery doesn't last through the second drink service on the flight from L.A. to NY, advances of this kind are sorely needed. By my calculations, the sound emissions of Bill O'Reilly could power the entire city of Mumbai, India all by himself.

Like most unbelievably cool, this'll-change-everything advances, it may be tens of years before this one can be ported to consumer electronics. I suppose the most I can hope for in the near future is a piezoelectric Tom Ford jacket in the next Bond movie.

Photo by Flickr user {dpade1337}.