1.    3117

     

    reblogged: molecularlifesciences

    scienceyoucanlove: Rainbow NanoplanktonBen Steinberg, Gerald PoirierPRISM Imaging and Analysis Center The rainbow creatures shown here are a species called calcareous nannoplankton. In the past as ocean acidity increased, the skeletons of some species became malformed, other species shrank in size, and others died out altogether. The intelligent design behind the species portrayed here is that it modifies and protects itself with a calcium shell during periods of high CO2 atmospheric content that lead to ocean acidification. Each creature is approximately 2 microns. This image was taken with an Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope, which allows us to see nanostructures in their native state with extraordinary three-dimensional clarity. ESEM images are originally black and white. But colors can be added subsequently (in order to give better clarity to the image) by assigning a given color to a specific gray scale.

    scienceyoucanlove:

    Rainbow Nanoplankton
    Ben Steinberg, Gerald Poirier
    PRISM Imaging and Analysis Center
    The rainbow creatures shown here are a species called calcareous nannoplankton.

    In the past as ocean acidity increased, the skeletons of some species became malformed, other species shrank in size, and others died out altogether. The intelligent design behind the species portrayed here is that it modifies and protects itself with a calcium shell during periods of high CO2 atmospheric content that lead to ocean acidification. Each creature is approximately 2 microns.

    This image was taken with an Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope, which allows us to see nanostructures in their native state with extraordinary three-dimensional clarity. ESEM images are originally black and white. But colors can be added subsequently (in order to give better clarity to the image) by assigning a given color to a specific gray scale.

     
    2. Jan 11th, 2013     sciencephysicsmicroscopynanotechnologyplanktonscanning electron microscope
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  2.    9

     

    The Small and the Beautiful

    Not all biological structures look gorgeous under a microscope. But enough do to make the 2012 Olympus BioScapes International Digital Imaging Competition pretty competitive. And the winners of this contest, from the shimmering, star-shaped hairs on shrub leaves to mouse retinas to the cells of an aloe plant, are nothing short of spectacular.

    I couldn’t stop browsing the slideshow of winning entries over at Scientific American, so I decided to share some of these microscope images with Tumblr. Head over to the SA website for details about the contest, and more pretty pictures.

     
    3. Dec 17th, 2012     scienceartmicroscopylight microscope2012 Olympus BioScapes International Digital Imaging Competitionbiologycell
    Comments

  3.    37

     

    reblogged: brookhavenlab

    brookhavenlab:

    See the way those smooth, amorphous blobs rapidly transform into textured honeycombs? Something very similar is probably happening right now inside your laptop or smartphone’s battery.

    The cherished efficiency and portability of those lithium-ion batteries comes with a cost: each cycle of discharge/recharge degrades the material’s essential structure and ultimate longevity - you’ve probably noticed that your older electronics just don’t hold a charge like they used to. Preventing this persistent degradation requires insight into a process that plays out on the elusive scale of just billionths of a meter.

    Fortunately, Brookhaven scientists just demonstrated a breakthrough transmission electron microscopy technique that captures live action lithium-ion reactions with nanoscale precision. The results, including the movie above, revealed surprisingly fast chemical reactions sweeping across the surfaces of iron fluoride nanoparticles.

    “We’ve opened a fundamentally new window into this popular technology,” said physicist and lead author Feng Wang. “The live, nanoscale imaging may help pave the way for developing longer-lasting, higher-capacity lithium-ion batteries. That means better consumer electronics, and the potential for large-scale, emission-free energy storage.”

     
    4. Nov 27th, 2012     sciencebatteriesTEMmicroscopylithium-ion batteryphysics
    Comments

  4.    471

     

    reblogged: shychemist

    Capturing living cells in micro pyramids A field full of pyramids, but on a micro scale. Each of the pyramids hides a living cell. Thanks to 3D micro- and nano scale fabrication, promising new applications can be found. One of them is applying the micro pyramids for cell research: thanks to the open ‘walls’ of the pyramids, the cells interact. Scientists of the research institutes MESA+ and MIRA of the University of Twente in The Netherlands present this new technology and first applications in Small journal of the beginning of December. Most of the cell studies take place in 2D: this is not a natural situation, because cells organize themselves in another way than in the human body. If you give the cells room to move in three dimensions, the natural situation is approached in a better way while capturing them in an array. This is possible in the ‘open pyramids’ fabricated in the NanoLab of the MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology of the University of Twente. Tiny corner remains filled The cleanroom technology applied for this, has been discovered by coincidence and is now called ‘corner lithography’. If you join a number of flat silicon surface in a sharp corner, it is possible to deposit another material on them. After having removed the material, however, a small amount of material remains in the corner. This tiny tip can be used for an Atomic Force Microscope, or, in this case, for forming a micro pyramid. Catching cells In cooperation with UT’s MIRA Institute for Biomedical Technology and Technical Medicine, the nanoscientists have explored the possibilities of applying the pyramids as ‘cages’ for cells. First experiments with polystyrene balls worked out well. The next experiments involved capturing chondrocytes, cells forming cartilage. Moved by capillary fluid flow, these cells automatically ‘fall’ into the pyramid through a hole at the bottom. Soon after they settle in their 3D cage, cells begin to interact with cells in adjacent pyramids. Changes in the phenotype of the cell can now be studied in a better way than in the usual 2D situation. It is therefore a promising tool to be used in for example tissue regeneration research. The Dutch scientists expect to develop extensions tot this technology: the edges of the pyramid can be made hollow and function as fluid channels. Between the pyramids, it is also possible to create nanofluidic channels, for example used to feed the cells.

    Capturing living cells in micro pyramids

    A field full of pyramids, but on a micro scale. Each of the pyramids hides a living cell. Thanks to 3D micro- and nano scale fabrication, promising new applications can be found. One of them is applying the micro pyramids for cell research: thanks to the open ‘walls’ of the pyramids, the cells interact. Scientists of the research institutes MESA+ and MIRA of the University of Twente in The Netherlands present this new technology and first applications in Small journal of the beginning of December.

    Most of the cell studies take place in 2D: this is not a natural situation, because cells organize themselves in another way than in the human body. If you give the cells room to move in three dimensions, the natural situation is approached in a better way while capturing them in an array. This is possible in the ‘open pyramids’ fabricated in the NanoLab of the MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology of the University of Twente.

    Tiny corner remains filled

    The cleanroom technology applied for this, has been discovered by coincidence and is now called ‘corner lithography’. If you join a number of flat silicon surface in a sharp corner, it is possible to deposit another material on them. After having removed the material, however, a small amount of material remains in the corner. This tiny tip can be used for an Atomic Force Microscope, or, in this case, for forming a micro pyramid.

    Catching cells

    In cooperation with UT’s MIRA Institute for Biomedical Technology and Technical Medicine, the nanoscientists have explored the possibilities of applying the pyramids as ‘cages’ for cells. First experiments with polystyrene balls worked out well. The next experiments involved capturing chondrocytes, cells forming cartilage. Moved by capillary fluid flow, these cells automatically ‘fall’ into the pyramid through a hole at the bottom. Soon after they settle in their 3D cage, cells begin to interact with cells in adjacent pyramids. Changes in the phenotype of the cell can now be studied in a better way than in the usual 2D situation. It is therefore a promising tool to be used in for example tissue regeneration research.

    The Dutch scientists expect to develop extensions tot this technology: the edges of the pyramid can be made hollow and function as fluid channels. Between the pyramids, it is also possible to create nanofluidic channels, for example used to feed the cells.

     
    5. Nov 24th, 2012     sciencematerials scienceafmmicroscopyatomic force microscopynanotechnology
    Comments

  5.    29

     

    reblogged: freshphotons

    freshphotons: “Ching Theng Koh and Daniel Strange: Electrospun Scaffold - A Fibrous Material with Nanoscale Fibres Special - The Carl Zeiss SEM prize winning photograph Skin, cartilage and the cytoskeleton of a cell are all made up of networks of fibres with diameters approximately one millionth of a metre or less. Electrospinning is a technique that can produce fibres at this scale. A very high voltage (~15 kV) is applied between a polymer solution and an earthed metal plate ―very fine fibres are pulled from the polymer solution and deposited on the plate. Electrospinning has been around for over 100 years, but has only recently attracted significant attention, due to its ability to recreate the fibrous networks found in so many natural materials. This photograph shows a network of electrospun fibres, made of polycaprolactone (PCL), a polymer frequently used in medical applications. The fibres shown here have an average diameter of 1 µm. The electrospun fibres are being created to investigate how fibrous networks behave mechanically. This should lead to an improved understanding of how fibrous networks like these would behave as tissue replacements, and how the fibrous networks in natural materials contribute to their remarkable properties.”

    freshphotons:

    “Ching Theng Koh and Daniel Strange: Electrospun Scaffold - A Fibrous Material with Nanoscale Fibres Special - The Carl Zeiss SEM prize winning photograph

    Skin, cartilage and the cytoskeleton of a cell are all made up of networks of fibres with diameters approximately one millionth of a metre or less. Electrospinning is a technique that can produce fibres at this scale. A very high voltage (~15 kV) is applied between a polymer solution and an earthed metal plate ―very fine fibres are pulled from the polymer solution and deposited on the plate. Electrospinning has been around for over 100 years, but has only recently attracted significant attention, due to its ability to recreate the fibrous networks found in so many natural materials.

    This photograph shows a network of electrospun fibres, made of polycaprolactone (PCL), a polymer frequently used in medical applications. The fibres shown here have an average diameter of 1 µm. The electrospun fibres are being created to investigate how fibrous networks behave mechanically. This should lead to an improved understanding of how fibrous networks like these would behave as tissue replacements, and how the fibrous networks in natural materials contribute to their remarkable properties.”

     
    6. Nov 8th, 2012     sciencemicroscopyphotographyCarl ZeissSEMelectrospinningfibersfibrous networktissuephysics
    Comments

  6.    321

     

    reblogged: shychemist

    expose-the-light:

    The Beauty + Biology of our Food by Caren Alpert

    Terra Cibus: Food Photographed with A Scanning Electron Microscope 

     Click over the images for captions.

    Makes me hungry…

     
    7. Sep 20th, 2012     scienceMicroscopyfoodphotography
    Comments

  7.    656

     

    reblogged: freshphotons

    staceythinx:

    Fluorescent Worlds by Microworlds Photography. Click on the images to see what these micro creatures are.

     
    8. Jul 17th, 2012     biologymarine lifemarine biologybioluminescencefluorescencemicroorganismmicroscopyphotography
    Comments

  8.    877

     

    reblogged: scinerds

    expose-the-light:

    Each Grain of Sand a Tiny Work of Art

    TAKE US CLOSER TO ONE OF THE LITTLE ONES

    When you take a moonlit stroll on the beach, how often do you think about the tiny grains of sand creeping in between your toes? From above, sand seems like a bunch of tiny brown rocks, perhaps peppered with occasional shells or cigarette butts. But sand has a far more fascinating story to tell.

    Composed of the remnants of volcanic explosions, eroded mountains, dead organisms, and even degraded man-made structures, sand can reveal the history—both biological and geologic—of a local environment. And examined closely enough, as the scientist and artist Gary Greenberg has, sand can reveal spectacular colors, shapes, and textures.

    These images of sand from around the world were taken by Greenberg using an Edge 3D Microscope and can be found in his book, A Grain of Sand, which was published earlier this year by Voyageur Press.

    I had no idea sand could be so sublime…

     
    9. May 3rd, 2012     sciencegeologyphotographypretty...microscopy
    Comments

  9.    290

     

    reblogged: amolecularmatter

    fuckyeahmolecularbiology: SEM image of a neuron. Am I the only one who thinks that this neuron looks like an alien octopus? Also, for those unfamiliar with SEM, it stands for scanning electron microscopy, an imaging technique in which you shoot a beam of high-energy electrons at your sample. As the electrons interact with the sample, they send off signals that the microscope can detect and translate into a 2D image. Generally, SEM is a good technique if you want to look at objects ranging from 5 microns (1 micron = 1 millionth of a meter) to 1 cm wide.

    fuckyeahmolecularbiology:

    SEM image of a neuron.

    Am I the only one who thinks that this neuron looks like an alien octopus?

    Also, for those unfamiliar with SEM, it stands for scanning electron microscopy, an imaging technique in which you shoot a beam of high-energy electrons at your sample. As the electrons interact with the sample, they send off signals that the microscope can detect and translate into a 2D image. Generally, SEM is a good technique if you want to look at objects ranging from 5 microns (1 micron = 1 millionth of a meter) to 1 cm wide.

     
    10. Apr 27th, 2012     scienceneuroscienceneuronbrainbiologycellsso. cool.microscopyphotography
    Comments