Microscopes

By taking advantage of recent advances in smartphone technology and the infinite possibilities of Lego, scientists in Germany have built a cheap and easy high-resolution microscope that is part educational tool and part toy.

Researchers have demonstrated a quantum microscope that can break through a fundamental barrier faced by regular microscopes and see tiny structures that are normally invisible. The device “squeezes” light to snap images with far greater clarity.

Most conventional light microscopes have a resolution of 200 nanometers – this means that imaged objects which are any closer together won't be seen as separate items. A new high-tech microscope slide, however, boosts that figure to 40 nanometers.

An advanced microscopy technique has snapped “super-resolution” 3D images inside the brains of living mice. The method is so precise it imaged the tiny twigs on the branches of neurons, and could watch how they changed over the course of a few days.

Engineers at Brookhaven National Laboratory have designed a strange new X-ray microscope that takes advantage of the spooky world of quantum physics to “ghost image” biomolecules in high resolution but at a lower radiation dose.

Researchers at Leiden University in the Netherlands have created the world’s smallest boat. Measuring just 30 microns long, the tiny model was 3D printed as part of a project investigating how to make synthetic “microswimmers” in complex shapes.

The incredible winners from this year's Nikon Small World photo awards strike a unique balance between art and science, offering everything from a surreal close-up of the grooves in an old vinyl record to a stunning image of hippocampal neurons firing.

Zooming in on the motion of the microscopic, the winners of the Nikon Small World video contest offer up the closest one can get to shrinking down to the size of Ant-Man and experiencing the weird and wonderful world of polyps, proteins and parasites.

Diagnosing asthma in small children is often challenging, as standard measures such as lung function tests can't be used below a certain age. A new blood-analysis device could help, however, delivering definitive results in less than two hours.

Nikon’s Small World competition has been running for nearly 50 years and it is one of the most compelling and reliably spectacular photo contests in the world. This year's contest featured many mesmerizing images like this small white hair spider by Javier Rupérez.

A completely new category of microscopy has been invented by researchers in the US. Dubbed DNA microscopy, the technique tags RNA molecules with a range of DNA "barcodes" which in turn flag the identity and location of the molecules, even when they're stacked on top of each other.

A surreal close-up of a weevil eye has taken the top prize at this year’s Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition. The magnificent annual photography competition, now in its 44th year, celebrates the skill and artistry in the world of microscopic photography.