Researchers from Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey, have shown that twisting straight nanowires into springs can increase amount of light wires absorb by up to 23%. Absorbing more light is important because one application of nanowires is turning light into electricity. Enhanced light harvesting efficiency of nanosprings also opens opportunities to build nanoscale devices that power themselves. Results of this research are published in the journal Applied Optics, from The Optical Society.