Before you get too excited, we’re not talking about keeping the Borg in the brig here. However, scientists have developed a gadget called “Envirostat”, which will allow them to keep individual cells in a force field of sorts. That means that they can assess the individual cell response to a single variable, while other conditions are kept stable.

The application is in the development of drugs and biofuels, where scientists want to be able to assess the impact of adding something, without feedback mechanisms clouding the response. Still, if you’re an amoeba with enemies, I’d watch out if I were you. Video of the tech in action over the jump.