60 years ago, Theodore Maiman powered up the very first laser. At that time, however, neither industry nor research saw any practical application for the technology. The story of a major misjudgment.

Researchers have used a new surveying method for the first time to keep tabs on ice remnants hidden by boulders in Austria's Silvretta Mountains. Via laser.

Microchips are becoming smaller and smaller: hard drives write entire encyclopedias on discs the size of a fingernail. Many processes take place at the atomic level - and little is known about them. Now PSI researchers have reached a milestone.

For the first time ever, physicists in Vienna have succeeded in creating a levitated solid-state object with quantum properties.

The precision mechanic Martin Fischer skillfully navigates between the worlds of metalworking and art. His passion: designing and manufacturing elegant pendulum clocks, for which he requires high-precision parts. These are cut by the Swiss job shop Al-Cut using a Bystronic laser cutting machine. A visit to the curious metal workshop of a creative mind.

Researchers have developed a new method to look into the fine structures of the brain. Artificial intelligence (AI) reconstructs the tissue as precisely as it has never been photographed.

Sustainable electronic elements can be made from wood. This is helped by a novel process that uses a laser to engrave electrically conductive tracks into veneers.