Quantum Dot Thermometers Take the Temperature of Individual Living Cells
Tiniest Thermometers Vials of quantum dots. Wikimedia Commons Next time you take your temperature, maybe think twice about its accuracy. Despite what the mercury says, not all of your cells are really at 98.6 degrees, scientists reported in a new study. Using nanoscale thermometers, researchers have shown for the first time that living cells can exist at different temperatures. Busy sections are warmer, and less-active ones are cooler. Scientists know plenty about what happens inside a living cell, from the chemical reactions to the physical changes that take place, but information about cell temperature has been sorely lacking. This is a curious problem, because temperature is one of the most important physical factors involved in a chemical reaction, explains Haw Yang, a researcher at Princeton University. Understanding temperature variations could go a long way toward illuminating cellular action, protein use, even diseases. A myriad of chemical reactions take place inside every cell,...