Picosecond Laser Scalpel

A surgical laser that cuts and cauterizes is a double-edged tool—expensive, effective but risking damage to healthy tissue especially in minimally invasive applications.  To answer this, a team at Heriot-Watt University in Britain developed a tool that “would utilize picosecond pulse lasers as a sort of scalpel surgeons could blast away cancerous tissue. This scalpel wouldn’t generate heat, as the laser would only be active for less than a moment and would essentially destroy cancer tissue to eliminate any chance of it escaping into the body.”  MORE WITH VIDEO

Image Credit:  emla.info