Lifeboat Foundation

A team of scientists from the University of Arkansas Medical Sciences have successfully tested a laser that can track down cancer cells and kill them — all from outside the skin.

While being completely non-invasive, “this technology has the potential to significantly inhibit metastasis progression,” Vladimir Zharov, author of the paper that was published today in Science Translational Medicine, tells IEEE Spectrum. The idea is to kill of cancer cells before they are able to metastasize, or spread, through the body — the primary cause of cancer-related deaths.