Hi!
Craig should be well under the photonic "knife" by now. In his honor, and for lack of something better to discuss (how do you follow such impeccable journalism as "Owen Wilson Suicide Attempt!"?), I think I'll dwell on the PRK eye surgery procedure.
In short, a doctor shoots a laser into your eye and burns stuff away which then heals in a fashion more amenable to actually seeing. The coolest part of this operation is the way in which the laser removes pieces of the cornea. First of all, who knows what laser stands for? That's right! Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation! I'll skip over the various wonders of lasers, and the semiconductor glory that quantum theory has revealed (which, as a semiconductor engineer is.. difficult..), and get straight to the corneal ablation.
The ultraviolet laser excites tissue and fluid packets in the cornea, heating the material to the point where it literally explodes off the surface of Craig's eye, albeit at a very small scale. Totally awesome.
Incidentally, the ablation process is the basis for an experimental armor set for tanks and other large military things. When an incoming projectile is detected, the armor literally explodes, or ablates, which ideally deflects or prematurely detonates whatever triggered the response. I have a proposal for the inevitable warning sign: "no sudden movements"?
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