New Microscope Enables Real-Time 3-D Movies of Developing Embryos [Slide Show]
Using a revolutionary new microscope, scientists can now peer into embryos and watch, in one of the world's smallest 3-D movies, as brains, eyes and other organs form. A team at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, watched zebra fish and fruit flie embryos develop under the scope for as long as 58 hours, charting the location of every cell as it danced around the embryo. This experiment would have been impossible a mere two years ago before a recent spate of innovations in advanced microscopy years into the future.When it comes to watching the inner workings of cells , fluorescence microscopy is second to none. In this technique, scientists attach fluorescent tags to cellular proteins and, by shining a laser on the cells, cause them to light up. [More] European Molecular Biology Laboratory...