This issue highlights the large annual M&M meeting attracting over thousands of attendees and the Topical Conference attracting about 100 attendees. Both types of conferences are popular among microscopists and microanalysts.

An important challenge in microscopy is the development of high-resolution light microscopy methods to label and image cell populations in three dimensions. The ability to achieve this deep into intact specimens is limited by light scattering. Modern technologies, such as two-photon excitation fluorescence microscopy, allow examination of structures at distances of hundreds of micrometers below the surface but are insufficient to image and reconstruct large cell populations that are millimeters in scale and deeper below the surface. Whereas light scattering can be reduced by optical clearing, most of these reagents exhibit limitations such as the quenching of fluorescence. Recently, a clearing agent that spectacularly alleviates these major limitations was developed by Hiroshi Hama, Hiroshi Kurokawa, Hiroyuki Kawano, Ryoko Ando, Tomomi Shimogori, Hisayori Noda, Kiyoko Fukami, Asako Sakaue-Sawano, and Atsushi Miyawaki. They developed a clearing reagent called Scale that renders mouse brains and embryos transparent while completely preserving fluorescent signals from labeled cells!

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has been producing reference materials since the 1950s. Over 50 materials have been developed to cover bulk rock, sediment, and soils for the geological community. These materials are used globally in geochemistry, environmental, and analytical laboratories that perform bulk chemistry and/or microanalysis for instrument calibration and quality assurance testing. To answer the growing demand for higher spatial resolution and sensitivity, there is a need to create a new generation of microanalytical reference materials suitable for a variety of techniques, such as scanning electron microscopy/X-ray spectrometry (SEM/EDS), electron probe microanalysis (EPMA), laser ablation inductively coupled mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS), and secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). As such, the microanalytical reference material (MRM) needs to be stable under the beam, be homogeneous at scales of better than 10–25 micrometers for the major to ultra-trace element level, and contain all of the analytes (elements or isotopes) of interest. Previous development of basaltic glasses intended for LA-ICP-MS has resulted in a synthetic basaltic matrix series of glasses (USGS GS-series) and a natural basalt series of glasses (BCR-1G, BHVO-2G, and NKT-1G). These materials have been useful for the LA-ICP-MS community but were not originally intended for use by the electron or ion beam community. A material developed from start to finish with intended use in multiple microanalytical instruments would be useful for inter-laboratory and inter-instrument platform comparisons.

This article summarizes the experiments undertaken to produce a basalt glass reference material suitable for distribution as a multiple-technique round robin material. The goal of the analytical work presented here is to demonstrate that the elemental homogeneity of the new glass is acceptable for its use as a reference material. Because the round robin exercise is still underway, only nominal compositional ranges for each element are given in the article.

Over the last decade, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) has advanced remarkably. With the development of aberration-corrected optics, improved recording systems, high brightness guns, and so on, imaging with single-atom sensitivity across the periodic table has become a reality. Atomic resolution imaging with rapid acquisition and with greater signal collection efficiency opens many opportunities in the study of dynamic processes of materials.

This article is the fourth in a series describing the setup and use of NIST DTSA-II. The previous articles may be viewed in the Microscopy Today archives at www.microscopy-today.com. Part I of this article described how to use DTSA-II to quantify an energy dispersive X-ray spectrum from a material of unknown composition. That presentation covered each step and provided background material but lacked a concrete example. This follow-up article provides two such examples.

Biologists using electron microscopy to understand the form and function of biological systems at the nanometer scale have long been confronted by a number of difficulties related to fundamental characteristics shared by most biological samples. First is the complexity and range of scales at which significant information is present, from the mesoscopic level in tissues, through the microscopic level of cells and organelles, to the nanoscopic level of macromolecules. Next is the hydrated state of most biological materials, in which water is essential to maintaining functional structure, but, at the same time, is incompatible with the vacuum environment of the scanning electron microscope (SEM). Finally, because of their fragile nature, biological structures are vulnerable to damage, by the electron beam itself or by procedures used to prepare them for SEM analysis. A new cryogenic scanning electron microscope (the Magellan cryo-SEM) workflow solution from FEI addresses all of these issues. It is an integrated workflow from sample preparation to sub-nanometer imaging that addresses the specific needs of biological research.

In the last decades, a new interdisciplinary science called biomimetics has emerged that has significantly influenced the design of certain new materials. Nature, as a source of inspiration, can give us ideas and concepts to implement new functional properties. One example is the self-cleaning property (superhydrophobicity) of certain plant leaves, better known as the Lotus Effect. This term comes from the lotus leaf (Nelumbo nucifera), the best-known self-cleaning surface in nature. On this kind of leaf, water droplets roll over the leaf surface and collect dirt and other particles from the surfaces. The superhydrophobicity of these leaves is caused, in general, by a hierarchical surface structure, built by a randomly oriented small hydrophobic wax structure on the top of convex cell papillae. The wetting condition of the solid surface is a particular property of materials and depends on both surface energy and surface topography. Many papers have been written to show how superhydrophic surfaces with periodic and random patterns can be made, but few describe and characterize biological self-cleaning surfaces. These papers usually analyze them by using optical profilers and scanning electron microscopy with specific sample preparation (for example, fixation) and in some cases atomic force microscopy. The main conclusion of those works is that binary structures (hierarchical microstructures and nanostructures) and unitary structures (basically nanostructures) are found in superhydrophobic plant leaves. However, no information regarding the general micro-nano structural pattern of biological surfaces on the x-y plane has been reported. These surfaces seem to have a random pattern in most of the cases or at least a vague arrangement of its constitutive elements whose morphologies can be represented by geometrical figures (for example, hexagonal/pentagonal polygons, circles, and straight lines).

Microscopy & Microanalysis 2012 will celebrate our past achievements, present our current research, and inspire us about the future of our field. The meeting will be held in Phoenix, Arizona from July 29–August 2, 2012.

Like that nourishing Music City confection, this year's Microscopy & Microanalysis Meeting, held August 7–11 in Nashville, was a GooGoo Cluster of top-notch science and networking. M&M is the annual meeting for the Microscopy Society of America, the Microanalysis Society, and the International Metallographic Society. It is the premier conference for microscopists working in the physical, life, and analytical sciences. This year's conference attracted 1,607 scientific attendees from 35 countries; the total number of attendees was 2,629. The perennially successful exhibitors' floor was again noteworthy with 113 companies providing the opportunity to wander 362 booths (9% more than the previous year) occupying 36,200 square feet with state-of-the-art instrumentation and publications.

James Clerk Maxwell was one of the greatest scientists of the nineteenth century. He is best known for the formulation of the theory of electromagnetism and for making the connection between light and electromagnetic waves. He also made significant contributions in the areas of physics, mathematics, astronomy, and engineering. He is considered by many to be the father of modern physics.

Selected postings to the Microscopy Listserver from September 1, 2011 to October 31, 2011. Complete listings and subscription information can be obtained at http://www.microscopy.com. Postings may have been edited to conserve space or for clarity.

Following is a list of microscopy related meetings and courses. The editors would greatly appreciate input to this list via the electronic submission form under “events/other microscopy events” at the MSA webpage: www.microscopy.org. We will gladly add hypertext links to the notice on the web and insert a listing of the meeting in the next issue.

I need to remove panels on a table-top SEM. Have you ever done this? I want to have the turbo molecular pump serviced.