Detailed 3-D images of cells reveal the inner beauty of biology.
There is a revolution afoot in microscopy, as biophysicists come up with ways
to image the nanoscale structures of living cells. Using a new technique called
3-D structured-illumination microscopy, researchers at the University of
California, San Francisco, have made some of the most detailed optical images
yet of the interior workings of cells, and they are gorgeous.
Biological beauty: This image of two adjoining cells preparing to divide
was made with a new high-resolution 3-D microscope developed at the University
of California.
The resolution of conventional microscopes is limited by the size of the spot of
light used to scan a surface. For more than a hundred years, biophysicists have
run up against a fundamental limit: using lenses, it's not possible to focus
light down to a spot size smaller than half its wavelength. So the inner
workings of living cells have been impossible to resolve.
clipped from: www.technologyreview.com 
