By Stephen Beech

An advanced laser has been created using just leaves and peanuts.

Scientists made the state-of-the-art technology entirely from biomaterials – birch leaves and peanut kernels.

They say the environmentally friendly laser could become a cheap and accessible tool for medical diagnostics and imaging.

Physicists at Umeå University in Sweden, working with researchers in China, showed how a so-called "random laser" can be made entirely from biological materials.

Research co-author Professor Jia Wang, of Umeå University , said: “Our study shows that it is possible to create advanced optical technology in a simple way using only local, renewable materials."

She explained that a random laser is a type of laser in which light scatters many times inside a disordered material

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