Recent Nobel Prize Winner Revolutionizes Microscopy Again

An anonymous reader writes: Eric Betzig recently shared in the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his work on high-resolution microscopy. Just yesterday, Betzig and a team of researchers published a new microscopy technique (abstract) that "allows them to observe living cellular processes at groundbreaking resolution and speed." According to the article, "Until now, the best microscope for viewing living systems as they moved were confocal microscopes. They beam light down onto a sample of cells. The light penetrates the whole sample and bounces back. ... The light is toxic, and degrades the living system over time. Betzig's new microscope solves this by generating a sheet of light that comes in from the side of the sample, made up of a series of beams that harm the sample less than one solid cone of light. Scientists can now snap a high-res image of the entire section they're illuminating, without exposing the rest of the sample to any light at all."

Comments

Re:Bennett Haselton on the implications

[RingDev]

I have a friend who works for a laser microscopy manufacturer. They use this technology (or systems very similar to it) to be able to record, in real time, cellular activity, INSIDE the cell, without killing the cell.

You know how it's 2014 and we still don't understand how memories are formed, or what the exact interactions between cancers and health cells are, or how we're always looking for new ways to deliver targeted medication/toxins on a cellular level?

Yeah, all of that ties back to this. Want to know what exactly is going on as the ebola virus invades a cell? This will let you see it, in real time.

This is the stuff that is the bedrock that leaps in scientific knowledge is based on. We are staring at the shoulders of a giant.

-Rick