Tiny probe beams light into single cell
Very small, sophisticated devices known as light resonators can be inserted inside cells without damaging them, a new study proves. Even with a resonator embedded inside, a cell is able to function, migrate, and reproduce as normal.
Researchers at Stanford University call their device a “nanobeam,” because it resembles a steel I-beam with a series of round holes etched through the center. This beam, however, is not massive, but measures only a few microns in length and just a few hundred nanometers in width and thickness.
It looks a bit like a piece from an erector set of old. The holes through the beam act like a nanoscale hall of mirrors, focusing and amplifying light at the center of the beam in what are known as photonic cavities.
Full story at Futurity.
Photo credit: Gary Shambat, Stanford School of Engineering
That’s incredible. It never ceases to amaze me what we can actually do anymore! Wow!