By Becky Ferreira Posted 12.26.2011 at 3:00 pm 14 Comments

Does This Mean We'll Be Able to Fire Beams out of our Eyes? Everett Collection

By day, Seok-Hyun Yun and Malte Gather are physicists at Massachusetts General Hospital. But at night, for the past four years, they worked on making a human cell behave like a laser. They built their human laser out of the same three components found in all lasers: a pump source, which provides the initial light energy; an optical cavity, which concentrates the light from the pump source into a beam; and a gain medium, a substance in which electrons are excited until they reach a higher-energy state and simultaneously release that energy as a beam of photons—laser light.

Awesome!

Yun and Gather modified a human kidney cell to produce green fluorescent protein (GFP), the substance that makes jellyfish bioluminescent. This was their gain medium. They cultured these modified cells and placed one between two mirrors, creating the optical cavity—“a cell sandwich,” Yun says. They then sent pulses of blue light from a miniature laser (the pump source) through the cell, where it bounced between the mirrors. The cell glowed green, and light shot out. Through a microscope, the physicists saw a grayish mass (the cell) with luminescent spots (the laser).

Light Pinball: Physicists created a laser by placing mirrors on either side of a human cell and sending pulses of blue light through it. The light bounced back and forth until a laser beam shot out in one direction.  Courtesy Malte Gather

Now What?

A living laser could be used to activate cancer-treating drugs using photodynamic therapy. Doctors could inject light-sensitive compounds into a patient’s bloodstream to seek out tumors and diseased cells. Normally, such compounds are activated externally, but if both the drugs and the light itself were internal, treatment would be more precise. For now, though, Yun is primarily interested in the possibility of using his human laser to detect slight changes in cells. The intracavity light passes through the cells thousands or millions of times before exiting as a laser beam. Yun says that scientists could use the ricocheting light to monitor cell behavior with unprecedented sensitivity, similar to an intracellular high-speed camera. And yes, he says, his process could one day allow people to shoot laser beams from their eyes, though it would be more flashlight than death ray. “If a light source was implanted in the eye, it might be possible to control it with brain signals.”

14 Comments

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muhaddib
12/27/11 at 2:14 am

It is going to kill the key-chain flash-light industry!

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GeeWillikers
12/27/11 at 10:43 am

With this, everyone can go to the movies and put a laser light on the movie screen and be annoying too!
OR
I kill you with my eyes!

It is all stupid; next POPSCI article please, thank you.

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drchuck1
12/27/11 at 11:00 am

GeeWillikers...maybe stupid to you is as stupid does, quit with the negative trolling

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TruthIsMyName
12/27/11 at 11:39 am

Oh great! Now looks will be able to kill indefinitely!

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GeeWillikers
12/27/11 at 12:36 pm

drchuck1,
Oh, where are you positive words other than magically showing up mouth spattering as norm for you? “Hypocritical narcissistic jerk, Go away!”

........................................
I adore the inventors of this technology and POPSCI!
POPSCI is wonderful!!!!!!!!!!!
YEA POPSCI!!!!!!!

But, I do have a difficult time finding a practical use for it...

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Contoria
12/27/11 at 2:00 pm

Eyes have laser connected to micro computer, check.
Electrodes sensors attach to ears and micro computer, check.
Software up loaded to micro computer installed in the brain, check.

Now to implement the automatic human solder chemical free bug zapper!
.........................................................
Ears are alerted to approaching mosquitoes.
Tracking insect for human approach.
Mosquitoes within range.
Charging laser compactors.
Powering up laser.
Tracking! Tracking!
Ka-Zapp!
Mosquito gone!
End tracking.
(SOLDER is asleep during whole bug defense.)

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GeeWillikers
12/27/11 at 2:17 pm

The waiter serves your steak to you. You stare at it for a moment a little disappointed; it was cooked rare and not the way you ordered. You do not want to send it back and wait another 10 minutes.

So you power up the old laser eyes and cook your steak exactly how you like it.

You smile with delight and look to your date across the table to your achievement, only to find she is really pissed off as you splattered her with hot grease from the sizzling hot stake.

Win some, loose some.

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Space
12/27/11 at 3:34 pm

I am so excited and on pins and needles with anticipation to all the wondrous positive comments and information "DOCTOR CHARLES ONE" will supply us about this article!

..........................................
See life in all its beautiful colors, and
from different perspectives too!

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AIdrons Last Hope
12/27/11 at 10:07 pm

Bubba, stfu. You are god-awful.

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Robot
12/28/11 at 8:29 am

aldrons-last-hope non-sheep
aidrons-last-hope typical herd sheep,lol.

Biological lasers technology is incredable and so cool!

.............................
Science sees no further than what it can sense.
Religion sees beyond the senses.

Link to this comment
Contoria
12/28/11 at 8:46 am

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radar_configurations_and_types

There are 100s of different types of Radar for a variety of purpose. On Aircraft carries, those little R2D2 defensive devices when first invented have a guidance detection system that can detect something as small as a bullet.
In the initial testing of these devices did not shut off and what appeared to be a wild gun. After further investigation, they found the unit was tracking it's own bullets and attempting to shoot them down.

Boats use ground surface radar, many military land devices use this type of radar too.

......................
SPOOKY!...... Life is

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Contoria
12/28/11 at 8:49 am

I am sorry, I posted this in the wrong article.
Have a nice day.
......................
SPOOKY!...... Life is

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rfr88
01/03/12 at 10:16 pm

@robot - Religion sees beyond the senses? What religion sees beyond sense is nonsense. It sees what no one can know or see. Man becomes the ultimate creator. He creates God in the image of man.

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wmars
01/04/12 at 3:10 pm

@ rfr88 ..........just think, 400 years ago no one ever saw an amoeba. Now we think we know all the poop there is to know. Or we can judge God existence or non-existance.


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