Have you ever found yourself in a bind because your cell phone is emitting that annoying low-battery beep and of course, you've left your charger at home and are heading out of the office for the afternoon of meetings and errands? Well have no fear, that problem could soon be laid to rest as scientists have created a new microfiber fabric that is capable of producing enough electricity to charge that phone for you. Simple and minimal movements are all that is required from someone wearing clothing made from the fabric.

"The fiber-based nanogenerator would be a simple and economical way to harvest energy from the physical movement," Zhong Lin Wang of the Georgia Institute of Technology, who led the study, said in a statement.

There's a long scientific explanation of how the fabric works, which you can read if you hit the jump. I sort of understand how it functions, but not well enough to try to reiterate. All I really understood is that the fabric converts the movement of your body into electricty. My big concern was how to avoid the electrical shock of a lifetime, but Wang also addressed that issue, saying a current was only produced if the material's "gold and the zinc oxide bristles brushed together." That seems like a bit of a risk to me. We all know how much it hurts if you're wearing the wrong pair of socks on carpet and then go to flip on the light switch. Now imagine you're wearing an entire shirt with the ability to produce electrical currents. Ouch!

» Yahoo News