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The transistor's conductive channel is a single zinc porphyrin, a molecule that can conduct electricity.

The compounds, called porphyrins, had previously been shown to be adept at absorbing light and using that energy to convert oxygen molecules in the air to a reactive form known as singlet oxygen.

When these porphyrins held a metal atom like iron or copper, they had a ferocious affinity for oxygen.

The key to this advance is to firmly anchor the target molecule to a substrate — in this case, the authors fixed an organic molecule from the porphyrin family to a copper surface.

Such strains, she suggests, produce much greater amounts of porphyrins, which are molecules that can trigger inflammation in skin cells.