Mastodawn

Paramecium enters a trance state at the club

https://sh.itjust.works/post/56920323

Partikelstrukturen verstehen: EXCITE-Netzwerk macht Forschungsgeräte & -daten europaweit zugänglich 🔬

Die #TUBAF ist Mitglied des EU-Netzwerks EXCITE. Über diese Infrastruktur erhalten Interessierte Zugang zu zahlreichen hochauflösenden Röntgen- und Elektronenmikroskopen und können diese nach Antragstellung für ihre Forschung nutzen. Heute treffen sich die Forschenden zum Austausch in Freiberg: https://tu-freiberg.de/news/wie-das-excite-netzwerk-forschungsgeraete-daten-europaweit-zugaenglich-macht

#StudierenUndForschenInFreiberg #microscopy #Data #ResearchInGermany

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Jess Holz 4d ago

This was a Stentor timelapse we made earlier this week from her trip to Boston (which she also had to crowdfund). She was magically able to locate one ‘on demand’ despite that I very rarely find one in Boston. She also brought me samples from all the way up the east coast. #sciart #microscopy

Jess Holz 4d ago

My good friend Kricket is deeply dedicated to studying the organism Stentor. Despite chronic illness and limited resources, she drives hours to the lab whenever she can. She’s been invited back to MBL this summer- please consider helping fund her stay! gofund.me/86b6b2f11 #plankton #microscopy

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Levka 5d ago

#MolecularBiology #microscopy

"New Electron Microscopy Technique Reveals Atomic Struct#ures From Nanocrystals Once Considered Unsolvable

'Virtual apertures’ let researchers isolate and solve atomic structures from individual nanocrystals embedded in dense clusters, providing valuable new data for energy and pharmaceutical applications.

Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have developed a new way to determine atomic structures from nanocrystals previously considered unusable, a breakthrough that could transform how researchers study materials too small or imperfect for conventional crystallography.

Crystalline materials have enabled advances in computing, communications, energy technologies, and pharmaceuticals. Many of these materials’ unique properties arise from the way in which their constituent molecules form repeating patterns. To better understand how to develop crystalline materials into useful technologies, scientists need to determine their atomic structure. Unfortunately, their samples don’t always cooperate. Although established techniques like X-ray crystallography can deliver beautiful maps of atomic structure at subangstrom resolution, they require large, pristine single crystals to work, and many important materials refuse to grow that way.

Now, in a recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), Berkeley Lab scientists have developed an approach that can sample single nanocrystals embedded within agglomerated clusters, transforming once-problematic materials into valuable sources of data.

'Our technique allows us to selectively mine data from the best areas of a nanoscale sample, which is a game changer for crystallography,' said senior author Peter Ercius, staff scientist at the Molecular Foundry’s National Center for Electron Microscopy (NCEM) facility.

Using a technique called 4D-STEM (four-dimensional scanning transmission electron microscopy), the Berkeley Lab researchers shrink the electron beam down to just a few nanometers and raster-scan it across their sample in small, precise steps. At each of the hundreds of thousands of probe positions in their experiment, they record an independent diffraction pattern, building up a massive dataset."

https://newscenter.lbl.gov/2026/03/03/new-electron-microscopy-technique-reveals-atomic-structures-from-nanocrystals-once-considered-unsolvable/

New Electron Microscopy Technique Reveals Atomic Structures From Nanocrystals Once Considered Unsolvable

Berkeley Lab News Center

Levka 5d ago

#MolecularBiology #microscopy

"Disorder Drives One of Nature’s Most Complex Machines

Every second, hundreds to thousands of molecules move through thousands of nuclear pores in each of your cells. A new high-definition view reveals the machine in action.

At the dawn of complex life, evolution created a container for DNA, its most treasured item. A few billion years later, 20th-century microscopists looked at this container — the nucleus — up close and saw that it was covered in tiny openings. At the time, they didn’t know what to make of these structures, but as microscopy improved, something grand came into focus: what we now call 'nuclear pore complexes,' some of the largest and most marvelous molecular machines ever formed.

Every nuclear pore complex is constructed from hundreds of proteins, of around 30 different types. From the front, it looks like an eight-petaled flower; from the side, like a flying saucer. Its center opening spills over with spaghetti-like proteins tethered to the inner walls of the complex.

'It’s a thing of enormous beauty,' said Brian Chait (opens a new tab), a chemical biologist at Rockefeller University. 'It’s marvelous. It’s a wonder. . . . It’s phenomenal.'

This machine has a vital job: directing molecular traffic into and out of the nucleus. More than an open door, the protein complex recognizes different molecules as they approach — and lets only some through. 'The nuclear pore complex is ultimately the gatekeeper for the nucleus,' said Roderick Lim a biophysicist at the University of Basel in Switzerland. 'Everything that has to get in and out of the nucleus has to go through these pores.'

Nearly every eukaryotic cell has a nucleus punctured with nuclear pore complexes, and the main components of the complex are incredibly conserved across species, from single-celled yeasts to multicellular humans. Evolution 'came up with that thing one time and got stuck with it,' said André Hoelz

https://www.quantamagazine.org/disorder-drives-one-of-natures-most-complex-machines-20260309/

Disorder Drives One of Nature’s Most Complex Machines | Quanta Magazine

Every second, hundreds to thousands of molecules move through thousands of nuclear pores in each of your cells. A new high-definition view reveals the machine in action.

Quanta Magazine

Albert Cardona Mar 11

The Open Microscopy Environment (OME) https://www.openmicroscopy.org/ is seeking feedback: help shape its future.

OME 2026 Community Survey
https://forum.image.sc/t/ome-2026-community-survey/119630

#OME #microscopy #ImageProcessing

The Open Microscopy Environment

A consortium of universities, research labs, industry and developers producing open-source software and format standards for microscopy data.

SciAnts Media Mar 11

Ever wonder about what an alien world may look like? There is a whole different world in your backyard. All you need is some pond water, a microscope and a slide and amazement will ensue. Check out our microscopy tips! #scicomm #stem #sciants #science #microscopy #DIY