Selenium Quantum Dots are being reported as a possible weapon to attack bacteria such as MRSA organisms which have become resistant to antibiotics.
These nanoscale dots can be produced cleanly and greenly in a beaker of water using a pulsed laser (for the techies: pulsed laser ablation in liquids – ‘PLAL’), reports physicsworld.com
With reports this week that the UK National Health Service is spending £15 billion a year (2013 figure) on drugs, it could even be feasible for large hospitals to produce their own selenium quantum dots so simple is the technology.
Selenium is a semiconductor (such materials are used extensively in microchips) and another benefit is that these quantum dots can also be used to improve the efficiency of solar cells.
I expect that the next 25 years will be the greatest 1/4 century that science has ever seen in term of benefit to mankind.
