Laser light may be able to detect diseases on the breath

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University of Colorado at Boulder physics doctoral student Michael Thorpe holds a detection chamber next to a novel laser apparatus at JILA. Thorpe and JILAs Jun Ye led a new study showing how scientists can use laser light to detect faint breath mol ...
University of Colorado at Boulder physics doctoral student Michael Thorpe holds a detection chamber next to a novel laser apparatus at JILA. Thorpe and JILA's Jun Ye led a new study showing how scientists can use laser light to detect faint breath molecules that may be biomarkers for disease. Credit: JILA, NIST, University of Colorado at Boulder

By blasting a person's breath with laser light, scientists from the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the University of Colorado at Boulder have shown that they can detect molecules that may be markers for diseases like asthma or cancer.


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All News summaries for February 18, 2008