Scientists develop microscope capable of ’super-resolution’ video imaging

October 14th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Imaging can now be used as a tool for identifying severe cases of H1N1 and may play an essential role in understanding the pathogenesis of the virus, possibly leading to earlier diagnoses of severe cases in the future, researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have found. The researchers said that imaging revealed a severe case of H1N1 after a patient had tested negative using a nasal swab rapid antigen test.

September 25th, 2009 WASHINGTON - NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has revealed sub-surface water ice that may be 99 percent pure, halfway between the North Pole and the equator on the Red Planet. "We knew there was ice below the surface at high latitudes of Mars, but we find that it extends far closer to the equator than you would think, based on Mars' climate today," said Shane Byrne of the University of Arizona, a member of the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, or HiRISE, which runs the high-resolution camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

August 28th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A team of US and Japanese scientists has shown for the first time that the spectroscopic "fingerprint" of high-temperature superconductivity remains intact well above the super chilly temperatures at which these materials carry current with no resistance. This confirms that certain conditions necessary for superconductivity exist at the warmer temperatures that would make these materials practical for energy-saving applications - if scientists can figure out how to get the current flowing.

August 20th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new X-ray imaging technique has for the first time in a century revealed unprecedented details of a painting hidden beneath another painting by famed American illustrator Newell Convers Wyeth, who is regarded as the greatest American illustrator of the 20th century. While making a presentation at the 238th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS) on Wednesday, Dr.

August 10th, 2009 WASHINGTON - In a new research, scientists at Berkeley Lab in the US have recorded first real-time direct observations of the growth of single nanocrystals in solution. Interim Berkeley Lab Director Paul Alivisatos and Ulrich Dahmen, director of Berkeley Lab's National Center for Electron Microscopy (NCEM), led the research team, who combined their skills to observe the dynamic growth of colloidal platinum nanocrystals in solution with subnanometer resolution.

August 9th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A team of scientists, using images from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on board NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, have reported direct evidence of lake shorelines in the Shalbatana Vallis in Mars. Scientists generally believe that warm, wet conditions existed on Mars until only about 3.7 billion years ago.

August 1st, 2009 WASHINGTON - A novel chemical imaging technique, called Attenuated Total Reflection Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopic Imaging (ATR-FTIR imaging), may one day help fight atherosclerosis, say researchers. Atherosclerosis is the disease underlying most heart attacks and strokes and it is characterised by lesions in the arteries, made of fats, collagen and cells.

July 5th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A team of scientists is developing novel underwater laser networking and imaging technologies that will be used onboard a group of small, co-operating robots, which will be able to rapidly identify and communicate potential threats in murky coastal waters. The new technology is being developed by scientists at the Ocean Visibility and Optics Laboratory at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute at Florida Atlantic University.

July 1st, 2009 WASHINGTON - A team of scientists has developed a new video "perfection tool" to help investigators enhance raw video images to locate terrorists and identify suspects in crime scenes. Professor Leonid Yaroslavsky of Israel's Tel Aviv University (TAU) and his colleagues have developed the new technology.

July 1st, 2009 WASHINGTON - You must have seen how cops in TV programmes zoom in on a security camera video to read a number plate or capture the face of a hold-up artist. But in real life, enhancing this low-quality video to focus in on important clues hasn't been an easy task.

June 25th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A team of researchers at the University of Illinois (U. of I.) has created the world's first acoustic "superlens," an innovation that could have practical implications for high-resolution ultrasound imaging, non-destructive structural testing of buildings and bridges, and novel underwater stealth technology.

June 13th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new study has suggested that humungous dinosaurs may have offset the consequences of being so large by quick healing of their bones. The study used high-resolution computed tomography (CT) imaging to guide sampling of bone lesions in the vertebrae of a hadrosaur ("duck-billed") dinosaur for histological and isotopic analysis.

May 7th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A team from the UCLA (University of California Los Angeles) Department of Physics and Astronomy has created the world's smallest incandescent lamp. The team that developed the lamp was led by Chris Regan, a member of the California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA, and includes Yuwei Fan, Scott Singer and Ray Bergstrom.

April 22nd, 2009 WASHINGTON - Scientists in the U.S. hope to bring the minimalist approach to medical care with the use of a medical imaging device that fits in the palm of the hand.

January 19th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A powerful new tool can image single molecules in a cell, with much greater clarity and speed, compared to existing methods. The new tool, dubbed liquid scanning transmission electron microscope or liquid STEM, uses a micro-fluidic device with electron transparent windows to enable the imaging of cells in liquid.