In the latest research, Tsen and his son demonstrated that their laser technique could shatter the protein shell, or capsid, of the tobacco mosaic virus, leaving behind only a harmless mucus-like mash of molecules. The laser shattered the capsid at low energy: 40 times lower, in fact, than the energy level that harmed human T-cells. Other types of radiation, like ultraviolet light, kill microbes on produce, but would damage human cells. 
My personal theory was right all along -- lasers really are the answer to everything. Physicist Kong-Thon Tsen of Arizona State University and his son, Shaw-Wei Tsen, a pathology student at Johns Hopkins, singlehandedly redefined the idea of Take-Your-Son-to-Work Day by developing a superfast pulsing laser that can destroy viruses without harming healthy cells. In the future, this totally rad ultrashort-pulse (USP) laser could possibly be used to treat incurable viruses like HIV.
The virus-deactivating laser works on a principle called forced resonance. The scientists tune the laser to the same frequency the virus vibrates on. Then they crank up the volume. Like a high-pitched sound shattering glass, the laser vibrates the virus until it breaks.
The father-son team dreamed up the idea during a leisurely walk together in a park, presumably while taking a break from their usual activities of saving hot ladies from supervillains or stopping runaway trains with their bare hands. Since the laser has only been tested in test tubes, realistic treatments are probably a ways off, but the laser could have myriad applications, from disease treatment to disinfecting blood transfusions. Unlike lasers used to burn through flesh in surgery, USP lasers don't generate a lot of heat. Tsen says the technology could provide immediate benefits for clearing viruses in blood stored in blood banks. Some viruses, like HIV, have a window during which they are very difficult to detect.
Way to go -- father and son, working together to solve the world's problems, one laser at a time. The last time I built a laser with my dad, it fired whiskey and the only thing it cured was sobriety. I haven't seen him since we built the Wild TurkeyTron 9000, but those were good times, Dad...good times.
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