The accompanying photo shows an electron microscope image of a carbon nanotube "forest" being stretched into sheets. The "forest" (left) is comprised of millions of vertically aligned nanotubes. When the edge of the forest is stretched at one end, the "trees" of carbon nanotubes lean over and grab the neighboring trees, so the entire forest will pull away into a very long, almost transparent sheet of nanotubes (right). Speakers can be made from either the forest or the sheets.

As , the lead author on the , describes:

"Speakers made with carbon nanotube sheets are extremely thin, light and almost transparent. They have no moving parts and can be attached to any surface [and] can be concealed in television and computer screens, apartment walls, or in the windows of buildings and cars."

What does this mean for the future? Ubiquitous talking surfaces coating the insides of buildings? Large-scale noise-canceling devices to create quiet areas in loud restaurants?

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