“Optical tweezers” used to measure the sounds created by microscopic organisms have been developed by scientists at Glasgow and Oxford Universities and at the National Institute of Medical Research.

They suspended very small glass or plastic beads in a beam of laser light to measure the movement of these beads as they are jostled by tiny objects, allowing for detection of piconewton (extremely weak) forces at molecular scales. The movements are then converted into sounds.

By listening to microorganisms, it may be possible to better understand how they work and to ultimately investigate the action of new medicines that might affect their motion.