We use cookies to improve your experience with our site. | More info.

Specials

See all specials

Microscopy

Microscopes are biologists' window to life — and advances in microscopy over recent years are revealing some breathtaking new views. Here Nature profiles five microscopes that are changing the ways that researchers see the world, and examines the challenges involved in collecting and interpreting the microscopic image.

Slideshow

  • Now you see it...

    From water crystals to exquisitely branched neurons, here we show some views of microscopic life that turned heads over 300 years ago and some that are doing the same today.

    ( )

News Features

  • Introduction: Magnifying power

    New microscopes are revealing sights that have never been seen before. Nature profiles five machines that are changing how biologists view the world.

    ( )

  • Seeing the system

    The single plane illumination microscope allows living samples to be monitored over hours or days. Alison Abbott looks into a future of systems microscopy.

    ( )

  • Microscope for the masses

    Could microscopes be mass produced for as little as $10 apiece? Erika Check Hayden profiles the 'scope-on-a-chip' that could enable high-throughput imaging.

    ( )

  • The big and the bold

    The ultrahigh voltage electron microscope in Osaka is the most powerful of its kind in the world. David Cyranoski sees a monster at work.

    ( )

  • The naked microscope

    Can biologists bear to part with their molecular tags? Heidi Ledford reports on the microscope in a Harvard basement that allows researchers to go label-free.

    ( )

  • The glorious resolution

    Stefan Hell has engineered a light microscope able to resolve structures that were once thought off limits. Alison Abbot reports on a super-resolution machine.

    ( )

Opinion

  • Microscopic marvels

    Microscopes are changing the face of biology. Researchers should innovate and collaborate if they want to be part of the new vision.

    ( )

  • A microscopic reality tale

    The earliest microscopes shed light on a once-invisible world. But, Patricia Fara explains, microscopists were uncertain about how well the images reflected reality — just as they are today.

    ( )

Elsewhere on Nature

  • Method of the Year 2008

    With its tremendous potential for understanding cellular biology now poised to become a reality, super-resolution fluorescence microscopy is our choice for Method of the Year.

    ( )

  • The good, the bad and the ugly

    Imaging fluorescent molecules in live cells is revolutionizing cell biology. But a pretty image is not necessarily a good one, and many biologists are learning this the hard way, finds Helen Pearson.

    ( )

  • Image manipulation: CSI: cell biology

    Digital photography and image-manipulation software allow biologists to tweak their data as never before. But there's a fine line between acceptable enhancements and scientific misconduct. Helen Pearson investigates.

    ( )

  • Cell Biology

    The specially commissioned articles focus on key advances in imaging techniques, which allow us to follow cell-biological events ranging from the dynamics of single molecules in living cells to the development of whole organisms.

Most read