Roland Piquepaille writes: "The lives of almost living organisms on Earth, including ourselves, are carbon-based. And when we're sick, we're exclusively treated with carbon-based medicines. But now, a team of chemists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison had a bright idea. Why not replace carbon atoms by silicon atoms? And by modifying a drug named indomethacin, used to treat arthritis and some cancers, they found that silicon medicines may have extraordinary therapeutic value for treating human disease. The modified drug both slowed the growth of cancer cells and killed cancer cells directly. Right now, the researchers only have worked with a specific drug — and in their labs. So I guess a vast amount of work needs to be done before silicon-based drugs could be used on humans. But read more for additional details and references about this discovery."