How scientists turned pig fat into a laser

Researchers have made pig-skin lasers. Yes, pig laser beams.

The technology, outlined in a paper published July 27 in Nature Photonics, showed that pumping light into fat cells could turn them into tiny, self-contained lasers.

The microlaser technique could afford scientists new ways to study and use cells, but mostly it's just "very cool," says Russ Algar, an assistant professor at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, who wasn't involved in the work.

The team at Harvard University turning cells into lasers has tried it before. But last time they had to put the cells inside a special optical cavity to make them shine (see "Lasers Made from Human Cells"). Pumping light into a reflective sphere can create the resonance that produces sharply defined laser light. Read more...