Technology Feature |
Featured
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Article |
Multiview confocal super-resolution microscopy
A combination of multiview imaging, structured illumination, reconstruction algorithms and deep-learning predictions realizes spatial- and temporal-resolution improvements in fluorescence microscopy to produce super-resolution images from diffraction-limited input images.
- Yicong Wu
- , Xiaofei Han
- & Hari Shroff
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Research Highlight |
Brightest X-rays on Earth expose COVID lung damage
Imaging technique can pick up micrometre-scale details of intact brains and other organs.
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Technology Feature |
Refining the toolkit for sugar analysis
Antibodies and other reagents for glycans have lagged behind those for proteins and nucleic acids, but the field is catching up.
- Amber Dance
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Outlook |
Optics shine a light on dental imaging
Light can outperform X-rays in tooth examinations and avoids the use of ionizing radiation.
- Neil Savage
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News |
Chilean researchers unhappy following investigation of star neuroscientist
Committee found that University of Chile neuroscientist Claudio Hetz did not deliberately alter published images — but some researchers fear his practices set a poor precedent.
- Emiliano Rodríguez Mega
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Article |
An open-access volume electron microscopy atlas of whole cells and tissues
Open-access 3D images of whole cells and tissues with combined finer resolution and larger sample size are enabled by advances in focused ion beam-scanning electron microscopy.
- C. Shan Xu
- , Song Pang
- & Harald F. Hess
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Article
| Open AccessSpatially resolved cell atlas of the mouse primary motor cortex by MERFISH
As part of the BICCN consortium, the authors used a single-cell transcriptomic imaging method to produce a highly defined atlas of cell types across the mouse primary motor cortex.
- Meng Zhang
- , Stephen W. Eichhorn
- & Xiaowei Zhuang
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Article |
Colorimetric histology using plasmonically active microscope slides
Colour contrast is added to unstained histological samples by using surface plasmon polaritons whose properties depend on the sample’s dielectric constant.
- Eugeniu Balaur
- , Sandra O’ Toole
- & Brian Abbey
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News & Views |
A microscopy technique that images single reaction events in total darkness
Single photons emitted from individual electrochemically excited molecules in solution can now be detected. The technique can be used to image cells at nanometre resolution, without using an external light source.
- Frédéric Kanoufi
- & Neso Sojic
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Technology Feature |
The hunt for red fluorescent proteins
By pushing fluorescent proteins further into the red, bioengineers are expanding the palette and penetration depth of biological imaging.
- Amber Dance
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News & Views |
Ion dynamics in battery materials imaged rapidly
An imaging method has been developed that tracks ion transport in functioning battery materials in real time, at submicrometre scales — offering insights into how to design batteries that charge in minutes.
- Aashutosh Mistry
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News Round-Up |
Mars selfie, Betelgeuse mystery and the impact of journal closure
The latest science news, in brief.
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News & Views |
Squeezed light improves sensitivity of microscopy technique
Vibrational signals from molecules can provide contrast in bioimaging techniques, but are difficult to detect. Light in a ‘squeezed’ quantum state has been used to reveal molecular vibrational signals previously obscured by noise.
- Eric O. Potma
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News & Views |
Revolutionary view of two ways to split a mitochondrion
Organelles called mitochondria divide in at least two contexts: during cell growth and in response to mitochondrial damage. The finding that division is different in these two contexts sheds light on the regulatory pathways involved.
- Rajarshi Chakrabarti
- & Henry N. Higgs
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Article |
Distinct fission signatures predict mitochondrial degradation or biogenesis
Mitochondrial fission at the organelle periphery generates small daughter mitochondria that are removed by mitophagy whereas fission at the midzone leads to proliferation.
- Tatjana Kleele
- , Timo Rey
- & Suliana Manley
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Article
| Open AccessA biosensor for the direct visualization of auxin
A genetically encoded sensor for the quantitative visualization of auxin distribution in plants enables real-time monitoring of its uptake and clearance by individual cells and within cellular compartments.
- Ole Herud-Sikimić
- , Andre C. Stiel
- & Gerd Jürgens
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Technology Feature |
AI spots cell structures that humans can’t
Models can predict the location of cell structures from light-microscopy images alone, without the need for harmful fluorescence labelling.
- Amber Dance
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News & Views |
Mitochondria are mixed during cell division
Organelles called mitochondria have essential roles in the cell and must be inherited successfully as it divides. It turns out that three types of interaction with filaments of actin protein mix and partition mitochondria during cell division.
- Till Klecker
- & Benedikt Westermann
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News & Views |
Glowing nanocrystals enable 3D X-ray imaging
Persistently luminescent nanocrystals have been used to make flexible X-ray detectors that produce better images of 3D objects than do the flat-panel detectors currently widely used in radiography.
- Albano N. Carneiro Neto
- & Oscar L. Malta
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Article |
Cell-type-specific asynchronous modulation of PKA by dopamine in learning
The net PKA activities in each class of spiny projection neuron in the nucleus accumbens of the mouse are dichotomously modulated by asynchronous positive and negative dopamine signals during different phases of learning.
- Suk Joon Lee
- , Bart Lodder
- & Bernardo L. Sabatini
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Article |
Highly multiplexed spatial mapping of microbial communities
High-phylogenetic-resolution microbiome mapping by fluorescence in situ hybridization (HiPR-FISH) enables the spatial mapping of hundreds of species of microorganisms and shows how microbial networks in the mouse gut are affected by antibiotic treatment.
- Hao Shi
- , Qiaojuan Shi
- & Iwijn De Vlaminck
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Outlook |
Artificial intelligence is improving the detection of lung cancer
Machine learning systems for early detection could save lives.
- Elizabeth Svoboda
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Technology Feature |
Studying life at the extremes
Researchers have invented methods to study microbes that thrive in the world’s most inhospitable environments.
- Amber Dance
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News & Views |
Cryo-electron microscopy reaches atomic resolution
A structural-biology technique called cryo-electron microscopy has attained the ability to locate individual atoms within a protein. What are the implications of this advance?
- Mark A. Herzik Jr
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Technology Feature |
Probing fine-scale connections in the brain
Artificial intelligence and improved microscopy make it feasible to map the nervous system at ever-higher resolution.
- Esther Landhuis
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News |
COVID sniffer dogs, cave bear and corals — September’s best science images
The month’s sharpest science shots, selected by Nature’s photo team.
- Emma Stoye
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Outlook |
Making radiation oncology more personal
The technology to fine-tune radiotherapy to an individual is here, but a lack of research is holding back its use.
- Amanda B. Keener
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Article |
Genetic and functional insights into the fractal structure of the heart
A genome-wide association study shows that myocardial trabeculae are an important determinant of cardiac performance in the adult heart, identifies conserved pathways that regulate structural complexity and reveals the influence of trabeculae on the susceptibility to cardiovascular disease.
- Hannah V. Meyer
- , Timothy J. W. Dawes
- & Declan P. O’Regan
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News |
Pangolin protectors, an inflatable lab and young stars — June’s best science images
The month’s sharpest science shots, selected by Nature’s photo team.
- Emma Stoye
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Matters Arising |
Reply to: In vivo quantification of mitochondrial membrane potential
- Milica Momcilovic
- , Orian Shirihai
- & David B. Shackelford
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Outlook |
MiWEndo Solutions: using microwave technology to improve colonoscopies
An innovative medical device for spotting colorectal cancer sees company shortlisted for The Spinoff Prize.
- Charles Schmidt
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Outlook |
Caristo Diagnostics: taking a fresh look at CT scans
A different approach that could predict the risk of having a heart attack puts company on the shortlist for The Spinoff Prize.
- Benjamin Plackett
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Outlook |
Oxford Brain Diagnostics: turning MRI into a diagnosis tool for dementia
The firm behind the brain-imaging analysis is shortlisted for The Spinoff Prize.
- Simon Makin
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Article |
Hidden neural states underlie canary song syntax
Neurons in the canary premotor cortex homologue encode past song phrases and transitions, carrying information relevant to future choice of phrases as ‘hidden states’ during song.
- Yarden Cohen
- , Jun Shen
- & Timothy J. Gardner
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News |
Murder hornets, park robots and planet formation — May’s best science images
The month’s sharpest science shots — selected by Nature’s photo team.
- Emma Stoye
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News |
‘It opens up a whole new universe’: Revolutionary microscopy technique sees individual atoms for first time
Cryo-electron microscopy breaks a key barrier that will allow the workings of proteins to be probed in unprecedented detail.
- Ewen Callaway
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News & Views |
Neuroimaging results altered by varying analysis pipelines
Seventy laboratories that analysed the same neuroimaging data each produced different results. This finding highlights the potential consequences of a lack of standardized pipelines for processing complex data.
- Martin Lindquist
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Outlook |
Research round-up: COPD
An imaging biomarker, nerve therapy and other highlights from clinical trials and laboratory studies.
- Simon Makin
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News |
Worm brain, ocean giant and soothing Jupiter — April’s best science images
The month’s sharpest science shots, selected by Nature’s photo team.
- Emma Stoye
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Article |
Local and global consequences of reward-evoked striatal dopamine release
Molecular and functional magnetic resonance imaging in the rat reveals distinct neuromodulatory effects of striatal dopamine that extend beyond peak release sites and activate remote neural populations necessary for performing motivated actions.
- Nan Li
- & Alan Jasanoff
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Technology Feature |
Exposed: cells’ sugary secrets
Researchers are finally uncovering the truth about glycans — the sugar-based chains that coat cells and decorate many proteins.
- Jyoti Madhusoodanan
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News |
Coronavirus close-up, faded star and orchestral operation — February’s best science images
The month’s sharpest science shots, selected by Nature’s photo team.
- Emma Stoye
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Technology Feature |
Find a home for every imaging data set
Repositories let researchers store, share and access life‑science images — and maybe even extract new findings.
- Amber Dance
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Article |
Live-animal imaging of native haematopoietic stem and progenitor cells
A dual genetic strategy enables the labelling and in vivo imaging of native long-term haematopoietic stem cells in the mouse calvarial bone marrow.
- Constantina Christodoulou
- , Joel A. Spencer
- & Fernando D. Camargo
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Article |
The single-cell pathology landscape of breast cancer
A single-cell, spatially resolved analysis of breast cancer demonstrates the heterogeneity of tumour and stroma tissue and provides a more-detailed method of patient classification than the current histology-based system.
- Hartland W. Jackson
- , Jana R. Fischer
- & Bernd Bodenmiller
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Article |
Coupling delay controls synchronized oscillation in the segmentation clock
Monitoring cells of the mouse presomitic mesoderm using the Achilles reporter fused to HES7 sheds light on the mechanisms that underpin synchronous oscillations in the expression of clock genes between neighbouring cells.
- Kumiko Yoshioka-Kobayashi
- , Marina Matsumiya
- & Ryoichiro Kageyama
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News & Views |
Cell-tracking pipeline reveals how motor circuits are built
A sophisticated imaging pipeline has been developed to track neurons in early-stage zebrafish embryos over time and space. It reveals how newborn neurons come together to build a spinal cord capable of locomotion.
- Kristen P. D’Elia
- & David Schoppik
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Letter |
Population imaging of neural activity in awake behaving mice
A genetically encoded fluorescent voltage indicator, SomArchon, is used to image changes in membrane voltage from many neurons simultaneously in multiple brain regions of awake, behaving mice.
- Kiryl D. Piatkevich
- , Seth Bensussen
- & Xue Han
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Outlook |
Digital assistants aid disease diagnosis
Artificial intelligence could help clinicians to interpret scans and tissue samples.
- Neil Savage
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