Gotta be said
Well!!!
Shine a light!
A new breakthrough in zinc oxide–based semiconductor nanowire lasers may support applications that range from killing viruses to stuffing more stuff on a DVD. "People in the zinc oxide research community throughout the world have been trying hard to achieve this for the past decade," the leader of the research team, Jianlin …
I think that what was meant was "discrete components" rather than moving parts.
If you go back to the '60s, a laser was made up of several components, including an exciter, a lasing element, and a collimator. They tended to be about the same size as brick, very power inefficient, and cost thousands of pounds.
They also had quite short operational lifetimes.
You can still buy lasers like this, but they are mainly used for high power applications.
Solid state lasers changed all of this. We would not have CD/DVD/BlueRay, optical communications, laser pointers, or a whole raft of gadgets and toys if they had not been invented.
Not bad for a "solution looking for a problem to solve".
One has to ask, will this spreadable, high SPF lasing cream wash off the sharks and goldfish (or even frogs, one might hazard), or will it be water resistant?
Should it not resist solution, clearly midges and other flying creatures would be better prospects. Better still: "Ignore my laser vole army at your peril!"