New laser techniques could revolutionize heart bypass surgery, cut diagnosis time for viruses linked to cancer from weeks to minutes, reduce hospital costs dramatically, and hold out new promise for saving human lives.

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Three years ago PARC scientists stumbled onto a surprising insight: Combining laser techniques with a whisk-broom bundle of fiber-optic threads enables incredibly accurate detection of traveling cancer cells, at a much faster pace than current screening allows.

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That will require further advances in laser welding and other bonding techniques to make production costs competitive.

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He is talking to Calibrated Diamonds, a company based in Johannesburg, South Africa, about combining his optimisation techniques with an advanced laser-cutting system.

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Other launch techniques have been suggested, including electrical propulsion, laser propulsion and even magnets.

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