microscopy Archives - Page 5 of 6 - Astrobiology

Using a nanomanipulator and an ultra-fine ion beam, a tiny lamella, about five by ten micrometres in size and only one hundred nanometres thin, is cut out of the meteorite and attached to a sample bar. The scientists can then analyze the organic particles in this lamella under an electron microscope (right). CREDIT SuperSTEM Laboratory, Daresbury, UK

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Impact events, Meteorites & Asteroids, Press Release

Cosmic Building Blocks Of Life Discovered Through An Electron Microscope

by Keith CowingJanuary 30, 2024January 30, 2024

Meteorites are fragments of asteroids which find their way to Earth as shooting stars. These cosmic sediments have frozen the primordial soup from which our solar system emerged – preserving […]

Fitness landscape of the TPR. Average fitness values for a given nucleotide position in TPR secondary structure (A) and tertiary structure (B) (Movie S2). Mean fitness of point mutations is shown by color scale from red to blue. Names of stems and junctions of t1 and 5TU are colored in cyan and orange, respectively. For full map fitness of individual mutations at all positions, see SI Appendix, Fig. S19. - Aarhus University

Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Cryobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Nanotechnology & SynBio, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release

Cryo-microscopy Reveals Nano-sized Copy Machine Implicated In The Origin Of Life

by Keith CowingJanuary 24, 2024January 23, 2024

How the intricate molecular machinery of life arose from simple beginnings has been a long-standing question. Several lines of evidence point towards a primordial “RNA world”, where an “RNA copy […]

Representative Raman and nanoSIMS data collected in this study. Across all panels data from two representative cells, “1” and “2”, are noted. Representative nanoSIMS isotopic images of are shown in Panel A, with pixel counts labeled on the x and y axes. From left to right, the pixel intensity in each panel corresponds to direct ion counts for 1H-, 2H- , and the fractional abundance of deuterium (2F), respectively. The top row shows cells grown in 0% 2H2O (natural abundance); the bottom row displays cells grown in 50 at. % 2H2O. Representative single-cell fitted Raman spectra are shown in Panel B, with the characteristic C-H band between 2800 and 3000 cm-1 clearly visible. For cells grown in deuterated media (Cell 2), the C-D band emerges between 2040 and 2300 cm-1. Panel C displays a typical micrograph captured through a confocal Raman microspectroscope. The scale bar represents 2µm. Cells in all panels represent T. hydrogeniphilus. The yellow boxes in the top-left facet of Panel A, and Panel C, represent a correlated region imaged with nanoSIMS and Raman (reflected light), respectively. -- biorxiv.org

Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report, Tricorders & Sensors

Offworld Life Science Instrumentation: Single-cell Measurement Of Microbial Growth Rate With Raman Microspectroscopy

by Keith CowingJanuary 8, 2024January 8, 2024

Rates of microbial activity and growth are fundamental to understanding environmental geochemistry and ecology. However, measuring the heterogeneity of microbial activity at the single-cell level, especially within complex populations and […]

Images of microfossil specimens of Navifusa majensis. (Demoulin et al., Nature, 2024) [L] one of the microfossils with stacks of thylakoids highlighted using yellow bars [R] magnification of the end of the cell.

Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Fossils & Paleontology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Microbiology & Virology, Origin & Evolution of Life, Plant Biology, Status Report

Fossil Cells Provide Evidence Of Early Oxygenic Photosynthesis On Earth

by Keith CowingJanuary 4, 2024January 4, 2024

Today oxygenic photosynthesis is unique to cyanobacteria and their plastid relatives within eukaryotes. Although its origin before the Great Oxidation Event is still debated 1,2,3,4, the accumulation of O2 profoundly […]

Representative Raman and nanoSIMS data collected in this study Across all panels data from two representative cells, “1” and “2”, are noted. Representative nanoSIMS isotopic images of are shown in Panel A, with pixel counts labeled on the x and y axes. From left to right, the pixel intensity in each panel corresponds to direct ion counts for 1 H- , 2 H- , and the fractional abundance of deuterium (2 F), respectively. The top row shows cells grown in 0% 2 H2O (natural abundance); the bottom row displays cells grown in 50 at. % 2 H2O. Representative single-cell fitted Raman spectra are shown in Panel B, with the characteristic C-H band between 2800 and 3000 cm-1 clearly visible. For cells grown in deuterated media (Cell 2), the C-D band emerges between 2040 and 2300 cm-1. Panel C displays a typical micrograph captured through a confocal Raman microspectroscope. The scale bar represents 2µm. Cells in all panels represent T. hydrogeniphilus. The yellow boxes in the top-left facet of Panel A, and Panel C, represent a correlated region imaged with nanoSIMS and Raman (reflected light), respectively. -- biorxiv.org

Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biophysics, Exploration Gear & Tech, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Microbiology & Virology, Nanotechnology & SynBio, Status Report, Tricorders & Sensors

Tricorder Tech: Quantitative Measurement Of Microbial Growth Rate With Raman Microspectroscopy

by Keith CowingDecember 28, 2023December 28, 2023

Rates of microbial activity and growth are fundamental to understanding environmental geochemistry and ecology.

PicoRuler: Protein-based molecular rulers make it possible to test the optical resolution of the latest super-resolution microscopy methods on biomolecules in the sub-10-nanometre range under realistic conditions. (Image: Gerti Beliu / Universität Würzburg, erstellt mit DALL·E 3)

Away Teams & Field Reports, Exploration Gear & Tech, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release, Tricorders & Sensors

Tricorder Tech: PicoRuler: Molecular Rulers For High-resolution Microscopy

by Keith CowingDecember 10, 2023December 10, 2023

Editor’s note: you and/or your robotic assistants are exploring a new world where life exists. You are trying to understand its basic genomics, cell structure, and other aspects of its […]

Macroscopic snowflake yeast with elongated cells fracture into modules, retaining the same underlying branched growth form of their microscopic ancestor. CREDIT Georgia Institute of Technology

Biophysics, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Microbiology & Virology, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release

The Origins Of Multicellular Life: Long-term Experimental Evolution In The Lab

by Keith CowingMay 10, 2023May 10, 2023

The world would look very different without multicellular organisms – take away the plants, animals, fungi, and seaweed, and Earth starts to look like a wetter, greener version of Mars. […]

high-voltage cryo-electron microscope

Exploration Gear & Tech, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Microbiology & Virology, Press Release, Tricorders & Sensors

Tricorder Tech: High-voltage Cryo-electron Microscopy Reveals Tiny Secrets Of Giant Viruses

by Keith CowingFebruary 16, 2023February 16, 2023

Despite their name, giant viruses are difficult to visualize in detail. They are too big for conventional electron microscopy, yet too small for optical microscopy used to study larger specimens. […]

tricordertech

AI - Data - Apps - Cybernetics, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Microbiology & Virology, Missions & Hardware, Press Release, Tricorders & Sensors

Tricorder Tech: Automated Detection Of Isolated Single Cells Using Microscope Images And AI

by Keith CowingJanuary 30, 2023January 30, 2023

Overview: A research team, led by Professor Moeto Nagai and comprised of researchers from the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Electronic Inspired Interdisciplinary Research Institute (EIIRIS), Toyohashi University of […]

Cryo-electron tomography

Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Microbiology & Virology, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release

Shedding light On The Origin Of Complex Life Forms

by Keith CowingDecember 21, 2022December 21, 2022

How did the complex organisms on Earth arise? This is one of the big open questions in biology.