The team turned to laser ultrasonics -- a nondestructive method that uses a short laser pulse tuned to ultrasound frequencies, to excite very thin materials such as gold films without physically touching them.

"The sound waves can hit something solid and break it into pieces, but the amount of energy you would need to keep the lasers and the ultrasonics going through several thousand miles of solid rock is so immense that I just can't see how any kind of portable ship could carry it," Perkowitz noted.

On the plant side of the equation, a study in a 2003 issue of the journal Ultrasonics investigated the effects of classical music and the sounds of birds, insects and water on the growth of Chinese cabbage and cucumber.

The higher trim levels of the Lucid Air, Dream Edition and Grand Touring, come with the automaker’s DreamDrive Pro ADAS, which includes 14 cameras, five radars, 12 ultrasonics, and lidar sensors.

ReCell, headed by Jeff Spangenberger, has studied many different methods, including ultrasonics, but focused on thermal and solvent based methods.