A team of scientists from Osaka University, the
University of Queensland and the National University of Singapore’s
Faculty of Engineering used tiny nanodiamonds coated with a
heat-releasing polymer to probe the thermal properties of cells.
When irradiated with light from a laser, the sensors acted both as
heaters and thermometers, allowing the thermal conductivity of the
interior of a cell to be calculated. This work may lead to a new
set of heat-based treatments for killing bacteria or cancer
cells.
