That’s what makes the iKnife so amazing. Developed by researchers at Imperial College London, the intelligent surgical knife can detect cancerous tissue in three seconds, simply by cutting through it. As electrosurgical knives cut through tissue, they vaporize it, creating smoke. That smoke is full of biological information, so researchers attached to the knife a sensor that can sort through this information.

This is important because generally surgery to remove a cancerous tumor ends up removing a good bit of healthy tissue, since it’s impossible to determine the difference by sight. This scalpel can provide that information during surgery, allowing surgeons to only remove the cancerous tissue, making it a game-changer. After all, twenty percent of breast cancer patients undergo a second operation to remove all the cancerous tissue.