Alien metal from dinosaur-killing asteroid could be key to cancer cure

Meteors... never really did much good for the dinosaurs.

But that same seven-mile-wide rock that crashed into Earth killing 70% of all living species may hold the key to curing cancer.

According to SWNS, researchers from the University of Warwick have found that Iridium, one of the rarest elements on earth but found often in meteorites, has a unique property.

It has the ability to get inside the nucleus of cancer cells and latch on to one of its proteins.

And when fiber optics carry laser light to those iridium treated cancer cells, it causes the cell's own oxygen to become poisonous, which is deadly to the cancer, but completely harmless to healthy cells.

The study's co-author, Professor Peter Sadler, says this type of Photodynamic therapy could be crucial in the fight against cancer.

"If this technology can be translated into the clinic it might be effective against resistant cancers and reduce the side effects of chemotherapy," he said about the iridium-based treatment.

You can find out more in the video above.