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First Direct Image of DNA Double Helix

Posted by timothy on from the can-see-my-house-from-here dept.

New submitter bingbat writes "Scientists at the University at Genoa, Italy have successfully photographed the double-helix structure of a single strand of DNA, using a tunneling electron microscope. This marks the first visual confirmation of its structure." The full paper is behind a paywall, but the linked abstract includes the picture that's worth a thousand words.

2 of 44 comments (clear)

  1. Horrible summary of article by Dahamma · · Score: 5, Informative

    Summary: "structure of a single strand of DNA"
    TFA: "Here we report on the direct imaging of double stranded (ds) -DNA"

    Summary: "using a tunneling electron microscope"
    TFA: "with transmission electron microscopy (TEM)"

    Yes, the full paper is beyond a paywall, but couldn't you have even summarized the three sentence abstract correctly!?

  2. for those wondering what the picture shows by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    the two pillars in the upper pics (SEM images) are some kind of super hydrophobic structure designed to hold the DNA molecule, the thin line connecting the tops of the columns is the DNA itself, the holes in the bottom allow the TEM electron beam to photograph the helix. the bottom right pic is the TEM image.