They spelled destruction for the dinosaurs, but they may have brought with it a gift to human health. New research out of the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom and Sun Yat-Sen University in China seems to demonstrate that a rare metal found in meteorites can kill cancer cells. Iridium is an incredibly scarce element on Earth, but it is found in large quantities in some space rocks.

For the research, the international team of scientists created a compound of iridium and organic material, then activated the concoction by focusing a laser on it. This turned the oxygen inside the material into a high-energy form of oxygen, which is poisonous and kills targeted cells. Incredibly, researchers were able to easily target cancer cells with the process without harming any healthy tissue.

Iridium was originally discovered in 1803 among insoluble impurities in natural platinum — an element commonly found in chemotherapy treatments. So perhaps it's not surprising that iridium has cancer-treating properties too. As cancer patients continually develop resistance to traditional treatments, this discovery could be the way forward.