Inside Look with Terahertz Waves
Here’s a shocker: terahertz waves, which exist in the EM spectrum between infrared and microwaves are capable of temporarily “unzipping” double stranded DNA, according to researchers at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Natural unzipping, of course, is how gene expression works-the molecule uncoils, separates its strands without breaking, and mRNA forms to carry its message to the ribosomes. This raises worry that terahertz imaging cameras used for early detection of melanomas on the skin, might interfere with normal gene function and have unknown consequences (comparable to x-rays’ potential of knocking DNA bases out of the double helix.) No doubt this does require more investigation on safety grounds, but the article reporting this does not mention a potential if distant wonder-using this phenomenon to insert artificial chimeraplasts to intentionally mismatch a point mutation which, in turn, could induce repair enzymes to correct a monogenic disease. MORE