Researchers have developed a way to achieve an ultra-high bioelectric signal from human embryonic stem cells. Using direct current-voltage methods and few-layered 2D molybdenum disulphide (MoS2) sheets, they produced cell signals two-orders of magnitude higher than previous electrical-based detection methods. This method can be combined with complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor circuits to produce a broadly applicable, fast and damage-free stem cell detection method to identify stem cell pluripotency.