First single-cell living laser made

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Doug
First single-cell living laser made

Now witness the firepower of this fully-armed and operational kidney cell. Cool

 

The team engineered human embryonic kidney cells to produce GFP, then placed a single cell between two mirrors to make an optical cavity just 20 micrometres across. When they fed the cell pulses of blue light, it emitted a directional laser beam visible with the naked eye — and the cell wasn't harmed.

The width of the laser beam is "tiny" and "fairly weak" in its brightness compared to traditional lasers, says Yun, but "an order of magnitude" brighter than natural jellyfish fluorescence, with a "beautiful green" colour.

 

Issues Pages: 
Fidel

Small town kidney. Watch out! He's got a big gun.

Fidel

And since we're on the subject...

Scientists create computing building blocks from bacteria and DNA
Research could lead to new devices that could sense and neutralise toxic outbreaks and disarm deadly cancers in the body - News Release

Gated logic from living cells? Will science and tech eventually automate the scientific process itself?

Technological Singularity is coming... Will it happen by 2100? 2050? 2040?