In all of science, there are very few things conceptually cooler than lasers. A beam of light you can use to blast aliens? Heck yeah! But are lasers actually as cool in reality as they are in science fiction? Probably not! But I guess you'll have to listen to find out for sure.

SciShow Tangents is on YouTube! Go to www.youtube.com/scishowtangents to check out this episode with the added bonus of seeing our faces!

Head to www.patreon.com/SciShowTangents to find out how you can help support SciShow Tangents, and see all the cool perks you’ll get in return, like bonus episodes and a monthly newsletter!

And go to https://store.dftba.com/collections/scishow-tangents to buy your very own, genuine SciShow Tangents sticker!

A big thank you to Patreon subscribers Garth Riley, Mike A, and Tom Mosner for helping to make the show possible!

Follow us on Twitter @SciShowTangents, where we’ll tweet out topics for upcoming episodes and you can ask the science couch questions!

While you're at it, check out the Tangents crew on Twitter: Ceri: @ceriley Sam: @im_sam_schultz Hank: @hankgreen

[Truth or Fail]

Gold-plated bacteria

Contact lenses that shoot lasers

Lead into gold with lasers

[Trivia Question]

Universal Product Code first scanned in grocery store

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/history-bar-code-180956704/

[Fact Off]

Laser cooking of printed chicken

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jct3f92rIOE

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/3-d-printed-chicken-dinner-cooked-by-lasers/

Laser lightning rod for deflection/protection

https://www.unige.ch/communication/communiques/en/2023/devier-la-foudre-grace-au-paratonnerre-laser

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41566-022-01139-z

https://www.nssl.noaa.gov/education/svrwx101/lightning/faq/

http://www.usfcam.usf.edu/cam/exhibitions/1998_12_mccollum/supplemental_didactics/21.uman2.pdf

[Ask the Science Couch]

Long-distance lasers and masers

https://www.faa.gov/about/initiatives/lasers/hazards

https://spie.org/news/12-09-laser-ranging?SSO=1

http://ccom.unh.edu/theme/lidar

https://www.icrar.org/megamaser/

https://arxiv.org/abs/2204.02523

[Butt One More Thing]

Low-level laser therapy for butt (or any) tendons

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8886125/

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/22960-gluteal-tendinopathy

http://www.utahorthopediccenters.com/hip/gluteus-medius-tendinopathy-or-dead-butt-syndrome/