Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) does exactly what its name implies: when excited by light from the blue end of the spectrum, it emits a satisfying green glow. But its deceptively simple name doesn't begin to convey how it has changed biology. It can be fused with other proteins and made by just about any cell, letting researchers track all sorts of biological processes. Variants have been made that glow other colors. Three people got Nobel Prizes for its development. Glowing animals have even become works of art and pets.
And now it has turned a cell into a laser, although researchers had to put mirrors on either side of the cell to get it to work.
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