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 ...

Birch trees remove microplastics from the soil

With the help of trees, microplastic-polluted soils could be remediated

23-Feb-2022 - For the first time, researchers at IGB have shown that birch trees absorb microplastics through their roots during the growth phase. Good news, because soils are many times more polluted with microplastics than oceans are. So far, little is known about how microplastics interact with higher-order ...

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 ...

Super-resolved imaging of a single cold atom on a nanosecond timescale

Scientists have made important progress in the research of cold atom super-resolution imaging

10-Jan-2022 - The teamofacademician GUO Guangcan ofUniversity of Science and Technology of China (USTC) of the Chinese Academy of Scienceshas made important progress in the research of cold atom super-resolution imaging. The team achieved super-resolution imaging of a single ion inanion trap system. The ...

The bitumen puzzle

Mix of methods provides new info

07-Jul-2021 - Although the history of bitumen dates back to the third millennium BC, only little is known about its surface structure. Researchers from TU Wien are now shedding light on the nature of the bitumen surface using physicochemical analyses. While atomic force microscopy and scanning electron ...

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 ...

Chemists produce simple fluorescent surfactants

Compounds show promise for use in medicine, manufacturing

07-Aug-2019 - Laboratories use surfactants to separate things, and fluorescent dyes to see things. Rice University chemists have combined the two to simplify life for scientists everywhere. The Wiess School of Natural Sciences lab of chemist Angel Martí introduced a lineup of eight fluorescent surfactants in ...

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 ...