Health
Magnets offer new hope
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-12-02 09:40
Tiny magnetic discs just a millionth of a meter in diameter could be used to kill cancer cells, according to a study published on Sunday.
Laboratory tests found that the so-called "nano discs", around 60 billionths of a meter thick, could be used to disrupt the membranes of cancer cells, causing them to self-destruct.
The discs are made from an iron-nickel alloy, which move when subjected to a magnetic field, damaging the cancer cells, the report published in Nature Materials said.
One of the study's authors, Elena Rozhlova of Argonne National Laboratory in the United States, said subjecting the discs to a low magnetic field for around 10 minutes was enough to destroy 90 percent of cancer cells in tests.
