The Cheese Slicing Laser

purduephotog writes "Xiaochun Li of The University of Wisconsin-Madison has come up with the ultimate gift for those high-tech wine and cheese connoisseurs: A cheese slicing laser. More detailed information is available at Optics.Org."

Comments

Who Cut the Cheese...

[mcasson]

I can see the advertisement now...it's how the civilized cut the cheese.

Re:Who Cut the Cheese...

[AndroidCat]

This is the weapon of a Jedi Caterer...an elegant utensil for a more civilized day. For over a thousand generations the Jedi Caterers were the servers of hor'dorves and snacks in the Republic. Before the dark times, before the Kraft Empire...

Yeah that's great.....

[whiteranger99x]

we just need to get some frickin sharks to put the frickin lasers on their frickin heads!!

Much better than Stainless wires

[The_Systech]

Man, this would have been great back a few years ago when I was working at a plant that packaged natural cheese. The most automated process we had was using pnuematic cylindars to push a 40# block of Cheddar through a frame with criss-crossed stainless steel wires. I can just imagine how much closer we could have hit the weight tolerances using lasers... Plus you don't have to stop and clean a laser beam every once in a while..

Re:Much better than Stainless wires

[Technician]

Please read the article. They are cutting patterns in a slice of cheese, not cutting slices of cheese. The cheese sags and they have been unable to make deep cuts. The slices they were cutting into patterns were only 2.5mm thick. This does not cut a slab from off the old block.
With the right software, a nice 3d surface engraving would look outstanding.

Did anyone else read .....

[MajorDick]

Maybe it was just my eyes jumping around but did anyone else read "Chinese slicing laser"
I think it was Xiaochun Li and Cheese slicing laser ....had me worried there for a second

Somewhere, a George Carlin sketch is referenced...

[whiteranger99x]

"In a country where you can buy cinnamon dental floss, cheese in a spray can, and edible womens panties, are people really breaking their balls to save nine cents on a fucking phone call?!"

Well, now we can add cheese cutting lasers to that list.

Safety?

[marshac]

Li tried again using a new class of laser that emits light in ultraviolet, and therefore shorter, wavelengths. That laser, known as a cold laser, cuts by blasting apart the molecular bonds that hold materials together.

By breaking molecular bonds in the cheese, wouldn't that alter the chemistry of the cheese where it had been cut? Could this inadvertently produce carcinogenic compounds (like when you burn meat)?

Why only cheese?

[addie]

I'm no laser expert, but by the description in the article, it sounds like this kind of technology could be applied to all sorts of food. If it isn't actually burning a slice, but rather "blasting" the molecules apart, couldn't it be used for meat, bread, whatever else has similar issues with bacteria?

Seems to me the higher energy costs in these factories would be offest by the gain in work hours that would have before been used for cleaning, disinfecting, sharpening, replacing etc of the blades.

Re:cheese laser == wrong tool

[AFirmGraspOfReality]

No mush. I've seen waterjets cut a fresh doughnut into 5 concentric rings. Perfect, clean cut. The water jet itself is very,very fine. Extremely high-pressure waterjets can cut through steel as well as cheese.

Re:Interesting Idea

[the_mad_poster]

You're obviously not accustomed to the arbitrary, uninformed outrage expressed by the typical U.S. muttonhead... er... citizen.

We've got people screaming bloody murder about "frankenfood" who learned everything they know about genetics from "The Hulk" and "Spiderman". They SHOULD be screaming for studies, they ARE screaming for a ban.

I'd be surprised if someone DOESN'T try to outlaw this or classify it as a military weapon or something similarly idiotic. "Somebody think of the children!" they'll scream as kids keep shining laser pointers in each others' eyes as a "joke".