• Nobel Prize Chemistry for microscopy that reveals inner world of cells
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[URL="http://www.nature.com/news/nobel-for-microscopy-that-reveals-inner-world-of-cells-1.16097"][Source] [/URL] [QUOTE]Ever since the seventeenth century, when the early microbiologist Antonie van Leeuwenhoek focused light through lenses and marvelled at the cells that swam before his eyes, microscopes have opened up new vistas of discovery. [B]This year, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry went to three scientists who defied the limits of light microscopes to reveal sharp images of molecular-scale structures in living cells.[/B] [B]The advances made by Stefan Hell, William Moerner and Eric Betzig in the 1990s and 2000s mean that biologists can now see, in real time, how proteins are distributed and move inside cells — at the junctions between neurons, for example, or in fertilized eggs dividing into embryos.[/B][/QUOTE] So thanks to laser magic, scientists have been able to visualize cells on an even smaller scale, allowing us to look at individual fluorescing molecules [U]inside cells.[/U] Eye candy: [IMG]http://www.nature.com/polopoly_fs/7.20546.1412790360!/image/1.16097_Hell_sted_einblick.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_630/1.16097_Hell_sted_einblick.jpg[/IMG] Comparison of conventional (optical) microscopy and the new technique: [img]http://puu.sh/c5B1p/a40ae07dd3.jpg[/img] Periodic Videos for more layman info: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z859PMPLgNs[/media] This is so goddamn awesome!
But can it see why kids love the taste of Cinnamon Toast Crunch?
Sometimes I feel like I got into the wrong career
[QUOTE=Water-Marine;46191627]But can it see why kids love the taste of Cinnamon Toast Crunch?[/QUOTE] Stop.
Hopefully with this new imaging technique, we can get a clear picture / video of ribosomes transcribing tRNA into amino acids, or maybe of DNA Polymerase making fixes to a damaged DNA molecule! I am so excited!
[QUOTE=Twistai;46191799]Stop.[/QUOTE] Compared to the usual shitty SH jokes that one was actually good.
Shit, this actually could have some rather big effects in the long run.
Thats badass.
I saw a colloquium yesterday on Magnetic Resonance Force Microscopy (MRFM). A professor at my school is one of the few experts on it. They're able to detect single electron spins, and the hope is that they will be able to get 3D resolution on the angstrom scale. You could measure the molecular structure of a single virus once that happens. If it does work I wonder how the Nobel committee would decide which field to award them in.
It almost looks like you could [i]see[/i] individual atoms in these proteins. SCIENCE!
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