Specials

  • 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.
      • 3 June 2009

  • 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.
      • 3 June 2009
      • 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.
      • 3 June 2009
      • 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.
      • 3 June 2009
      • 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.
      • 3 June 2009
      • 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.
      • 3 June 2009
      • 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.
      • 3 June 2009

  • 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.
      • 3 June 2009
      • 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.
      • 3 June 2009

  • Elsewhere in Nature

      • Nature Methods 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.
      • 17 December 2008
      • 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.
      • 9 May 2007
      • 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.
      • 20 April 2005
      • Imaging in 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.
      • 2003

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