The scientists placed a solution of carbon nanotubes -- synthetic rods that are only half the width of a DNA molecule -- under an infrared laser beam. The laser beam heated the carbon nanotube solution to about 158 degrees Fahrenheit within two minutes.
When nanotubes were placed inside cells and radiated by the laser beam, the cells were quickly destroyed by the heat. However, cells that did not contain any nanotubes were not affected by the laser beam.
"An interesting property of carbon nanotubes is that they absorb near-infrared light waves, which are slightly longer than visible rays of light and pass harmlessly through our cells," study co-author Hongjie Dai, associate professor of chemistry at Stanford, said in a prepared statement.
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