It is always a pleasure to present you with a fresh perspective on a topic of microbiological interest. With this issue, we are therefore delighted to draw your attention to a new venture for Nature Reviews Microbiology — an animation.

Microbiology in motion — intracellular microbial pathogens was developed in association with multimedia specialists Arkitek Studios, and provides viewers with an animated tour of the lifestyles of three bacterial pathogens. Each pathogen occupies an intracellular niche but uses a different strategy to evade the host immune response. The subtitle of each of the three chapters in the animation reflects these different strategies — Legionella pneumophila: reversal of fortune; Listeria monocytogenes: born to run; and Mycobacterium tuberculosis: forever young.

Developing the animation has been somewhat of a labour of love for both editors and animators, and it brought the challenges associated with visualizing microbiological processes into sharp relief. It can be relatively easy to recount the steps involved in a particular molecular process on paper, but turning a written description into a visual depiction is a particular skill. From the initial concept, detailed storyboards had to be produced, describing the molecular processes involved in terms of the 'actors' present and the different 'props' they required in each 'scene', in order to provide the animators with sufficient material to translate the action into three dimensions. Fortunately, all the hard work has been worth it, and the results speak for themselves.

Access to the animation — which is available at www.nature.com/nrmicro/animation/index.html — is free. So, with thanks to Arkitek and those who provided scientific advice on the initial storyboards many months ago, we are proud to present Microbiology in motion — intracellular microbial pathogens. Sit back, relax and enjoy the show!