Femtosecond Lasers for Nanosurgery

Roland Piquepaille writes "In "Lasers operate inside single cells," Nature writes that nanosurgery can be achieved by vaporizing some components of living cells without killing the cells themselves. "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 technique could help probe how cells work, and perform super-precise surgery." This was developed by Eric Mazur of Harvard University and his colleagues. This summary contains more details and references about the process and these microexplosions. Please note that it's a very different technique from the one described six months ago in a previous Slashdot reference, Surgery with Femtosecond Lasers."

Comments

Coincidence? I think not.

[MisterSquid]

This was developed by Eric Mazur of Harvard University and his colleagues.

The MASER was the predecessor of the LASER. Though most don't know this, LASER is an acronym standing for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation." The difference is that MASERs amplify Microwaves instead of light.

Isn't it convenient that the lead scientist on this is named just happened to be named "Mazur?" . . . Waitaminut, where'd that black helicopter come from?

(You can get a little info about MASERs and LASERs here)