This hair-thin fiber microphone can monitor critical power grid systems. The microphone, which detects sound with light, is immune to electromagnetic interference, can survive in hazardous environments and is sensitive enough to hear the subtle early warning signals of equipment failure. With a self-packaged monolithic design, the Shanghai University team fabricated the all-fiber microphone by using picosecond laser irradiation followed by a chemical etching process. Find the full release in our Newsroom! #ScienceAndTechnology #Physics #PowerGrids shanghaiuniversity