Designed to enable robot explorers to listen out for life on other planets, the tiny microphone could theoretically detect the sound of a single cell growing. The artificial cilla are made from carbon nanotubes, which bend in response to the slightest change in pressure.
Movement is one of the signatures for life.
That's how I came up with the idea of using protruding rods. Although the nanophone was developed as part of the search for ET, it could have many other applications. Noca suggests that it could eventually be used to detect tumours when they are only a few cells wide. It's known that the intracellular activity of cancerous cells tends to be much higher than for healthy cells. The device could also be useful in hearing aids because of its directional sensitivity.