# A living cell that lases.  Soon, laser bunnies.



## twilyth (Jun 14, 2011)

Maybe this isn't what they had in mind, but it might be where we're going.









> The first living laser is nothing to be afraid of. It’s just a single cell pulsing with light that may lead to new ways of probing microscopic realms.
> 
> And maybe — just maybe — laser bunnies.
> 
> ...





> Then the physicists pimped their GFP laser, replacing the free-floating molecules with a single mammalian cell containing a bit of DNA that churns out a mutant form of the fluorescent protein. When stimulated, the cell could pulse with light a few hundred times before the GFP gave out — or in technical terms, photobleached.
> 
> “The interesting thing here is that the cell keeps making the GFP protein as it grows,” says Steve Meech, a physical chemist at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England. Unlike a dye laser, a living laser should be able to heal itself over time by replacing photobleached molecules.



Is that a laser bunny in your pocket Congressman Weiner?


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## Bo$$ (Jun 14, 2011)

Self healing laser?


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## twilyth (Jun 14, 2011)

Bo$$ said:


> Self healing laser?



Since the living cell produces the GFP that is the lasing medium, as the GFP is bleached, the cell can produce more - aka, self-healing.


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## Bo$$ (Jun 14, 2011)

so more of a recharging mechanism using the  protien, i must say that is ingenuous. Laser Bunnies here we come!


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## Solaris17 (Jun 15, 2011)

this facility filled with laser space bunnies.


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## cheesy999 (Jun 15, 2011)

Solaris17 said:


> http://lh5.ggpht.com/_qQQQg0ODhzo/TQHL0eVSlyI/AAAAAAAAK3I/-4Ajw2S9hnY/low_orbit_ion_cannon[4].jpg
> 
> this facility filled with laser space bunnies.



what i was picturing was more along the lines of a bunny in a space suit

*in dramatic voice) Deploying the orbital space rabbit in 5,4,3,2,1...


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## qubit (Jun 17, 2011)

Laser bunny! Awesome.


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