Lasers operate inside single cells

October 6, 2003 | Source: Nature Science Update

With pulses of intense laser light a millionth of a billionth of a second long, US researchers are vaporizing tiny structures inside living cells without killing them. The “laser nanosurgery” technique could help probe how cells work and perform super-precise surgery.

In the future, laser scalpels could cut inside tissues without opening up the patient, says physicist Eric Mazur of Harvard University.