Overcoming the optical resolution limit

Microsphere assistance enables interferometric topography measurements

03-Nov-2022 - When measuring with light, the lateral extent of the structures that can be resolved by an optical imaging system is fundamentally diffraction limited. Overcoming this limitation is a topic of great interest in recent research, and several approaches have been published in this area. In a recent ...

World's first confocal light microscope to study chiral molecules

This discovery is a major breakthrough that will allow researchers to analyse previously unexplored parts of biology and chemistry

03-Feb-2022 - Scientists from Durham University’s Chemistry Department have developed the world’s first laser scanning confocal microscope that can harness Circularly Polarised Light (CPL) to differentiate left and right-handed molecules, also known as chiral molecules. The microscope, known as CPL Laser ...

New microscopy method resolves fluorescent molecules with resolution at the nanometer scale

22-Mar-2021 - Scientists working with Stefan Hell at the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen and the Heidelberg-based MPI for Medical Research have developed another light microscopy method, called MINSTED, which resolves fluorescently labeled details with molecular sharpness. ...

Fluorescence microscopy at highest spatial and temporal resolution

Researchers simplify the MINFLUX microscope and have succeeded in differentiating molecules that are extremely close together and tracking their dynamics.

21-Jan-2021 - Only a few years ago, an ostensibly fundamental resolution limit in optical microscopy was superseded - a breakthrough which in 2014 led to the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for super-resolution microscopy. Since then, there has been another quantum leap in this area, which has further reduced the ...

Testing chemicals without animal testing on rodents

Replacement method with locusts to test whether chemicals cause neurological developmental disorders in children

11-Jul-2019 - In recent years, the number of neurological developmental disorders in children has increased. Epidemiological data suggest that lifestyle factors and chemicals used in our environment contribute to this. Scientists from the Institute of Physiology and Cell Biology at the University of Veterinary ...

Shaping light lets 2D microscopes capture 4D data

Invention adds new dimension to fluorescent microscopy

20-Feb-2019 - Rice University researchers have added a new dimension to their breakthrough technique that expands the capabilities of standard laboratory microscopes. Two years ago, the Rice lab of chemist Christy Landes introduced super temporal resolution microscopy, a technique that allowed researchers to ...

A super resolution view of chemical reactions

14-Feb-2018 - Researchers from the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences have demonstrated, using a super resolution microscopic technique, how to follow chemical reactions taking place in very small volumes. The method of analysis developed by the Warsaw physicists in collaboration ...

Video reveals wave character of particles

Wave properties of individual heavy molecules can also be observed experimentally

30-Mar-2012 - Quantum theory describes the world of atoms very precisely. Still, it defies our macroscopic conception of everyday's world due to its many anti-intuitive predictions. The wave-particle dualism probably is the best known example and means that matter may spread and interfere like waves. Now, an ...

Fewer animal experiments thanks to nanosensors

12-Jan-2012 - Countless mice, rats and rabbits die every year in the name of science – and the situation is getting worse. While German laboratories used some 2.41 million animals for scientific research in 2005, by 2009 this number had grown to 2.79 million. One third were destined for fundamental biology ...

The 2011 Körber Prize goes to Stefan Hell

With a groundbreaking idea the physicist has overcome the diffraction resolution barrier in optical microscopy

08-Jul-2011 - Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. Stefan Hell of the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen is to receive the 2011 Körber European Science Prize endowed with 750,000 euros for his pioneering discoveries in the field of optics. Every year, the Körber Prize is awarded to an outstanding ...