Microscopy is an imaging technique that enables us to see a world that would otherwise be invisible to us. Once upon a time, visualizing cells, microbes and other entities not perceptible to the naked eye was impossible. Then came the advent of microscopy in the 16th century, which brought the minuscule world around us into sharper focus. Microscopy has come a long way in the centuries since, transforming our knowledge of life on the microscopic scale and heralding breakthroughs across the life sciences. Here, we explore five recent applications and innovations in microscopy that have magnified our understanding in the fields of microbiology, neuroscience and cell biology. Super-resolution sectioning image scanning microscopy: visualizing biological tissues in unprecedented detail Super-resolution sectioning image scanning microscopy – a new optical microscopy technique devised by scientists at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (Genoa, Italy) – has enabled researchers to visualize and photograph dense, complex biological samples in extremely sharp detail. This is something that has proven difficult in the past. Using confocal microscopy to image such samples means a trade-off between spatial resolution and signal-to-noise ratio. Image scanning microscopy overcomes this, but current approaches do not provide optical sectioning and often fail with thick samples. That’s where super-resolution sectioning image scanning microscopy comes in. The novel technique has improved spatial resolution and contrast when studying thick tissues. Sensors capture light when it hits the sample and detect variations as the light spreads throughout it. Then, a specially designed reconstruction algorithm inverts the physical model…
