Leave it to a scientist in Wisconsin, America’s leading dairy state, to come up with a new way to cut cheese. Xiaochun Li, a mechanical engineer at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, built a novel chopper around a laser that is so accurate it can slice pieces no thicker than a human hair, about 1/300 of an inch. “At first I used a traditional laser and it burned the cheese, so I almost gave up,” he says. “Then I thought about the excimer laser used in eye surgery.” This type of laser, which fires pulses that last only one-billionth of a second, creates a barrage of molecular fissures while leaving the surrounding material intact. “High energy means it breaks the bonds quickly,” Li says. “It’s a very clean cut.”
Li believes his machine is safer and more sanitary than conventional blades and could improve efficiency by eliminating tearing and ...
