Cinemas, theatres and romantic restaurants could be free of those annoying mobile phone ring tones for ever - thanks to a form of 'wallpaper' based on technology used in stealth weaponry.
Scientists at QinetiQ, the privatised research arm of Britain's Ministry of Defence, have discovered how to cheaply mass-produce metal grids hidden in wallpaper that block out mobile signals. Pasted wall to wall, the sheets allow whole rooms or buildings to become quiet zones.
The grids block some signals, such as the mobile's WiFi signal, but allow in others such as two-way radios, depending on their wavelengths.
QinetiQ believes the technology can benefit schools, airports, cinemas or anywhere else where peace and quiet is required. The wallpaper grids could become a feature of interior decorating, hugging dining-room walls to stop mobile chit-chat at mealtimes.
It also has a more serious use. The researchers say the wallpaper can stop terrorists using mobile-phone signals to trigger explosive devices, as they did in the Madrid train bombings. It also means safe rooms can be installed at airports or stations, for example, to store suspicious packages.
In the past, the wallpaper, or 'frequency-selective screens', as scientists call them, was so costly it was limited to small areas, such as radar devices or the doors of microwave ovens. QinetiQ's breakthrough changes all that.