The Microscopy & Microanalysis (M&M) meeting is known as the largest annual microscopy meeting with the largest annual exhibition of microscopy instruments and supplies. One regular feature of the exhibition is the Microscopy Society of America's own booth called the MegaBooth, which is visible from the far reaches of the hall because of the huge circular banner above it. This large booth, planned and implemented by volunteers, acts as a central meeting place for many MSA activities at the meeting.

There are certainly “big movies” such as Gone with the Wind and “small movies” such as Beasts of the Southern Wild, but Andreas Heinrich, Chris Lutz, Susanne Baumann, and Ileana Rau at IBM literally have set a new Guinness World Record™ for the smallest movie ever made. Heinrich et al. used a remotely operated two-ton scanning tunneling microscope to manipulate carbon monoxide molecules into a pattern, then capture the image (at a magnification of about 100,000,000×!), then move a few atoms and capture another image, and so on. This was done at 268 degrees below zero Celsius. Then approximately 250 images were assembled into a stop-action movie accompanied by cute music that lasts a little over a minute. The “boy” appears to be composed of 88 individual atoms. He bounces a “ball” (a single atom) off a wall in a minuscule game of “handatom,” which is reminiscent of the early video game “Pong.” Then he bounces on a tiny trampoline. The movie concludes with a tasteful mention of IBM.

Researchers have long sought to visualize neural projections and other features of animal brains by imaging them using light microscopes. Connectomics studies strive to elucidate the connections among nerve cells, but brain is dense, and gray matter is tremendously light-scattering. So scientists have not been able to peer as deeply into brain tissue as is necessary to view its complex connections and structures without cutting brain tissue into thin sections. The slicing causes damage that makes it even more difficult to reconstruct exactly how nervous system structures are interconnected. Issues with light scattering have also limited studies of microvasculature, developmental structures, and other features in mouse embryos and other tissues. Traditional methods of retrograde or anterograde labeling have been able to provide high specificity of connection circuitry, but at the price of losing the organizational context of the network. In addition, there is a limit to the practical number of labels that can be used at once. Even multicolor methods have required serial section reconstruction.

Ground state depletion (GSD) microscopy is a form of super-resolution light microscopy suggested almost a decade ago but demonstrated practically in 2007. In principle, this is a parallel recording wide-field approach that temporarily switches the majority of fluorophores off to allow the precise localization of single fluorophores. Almost all fluorophores in the sample are turned dark by high-intensity laser excitation, leaving only single, well-separated fluorophores emitting fluorescence. The precise localization of the fluorescent dyes is then determined to produce images with a resolution in the 20- to 50-nanometer range. One of the key advantages of this method over other localization techniques is that it can be used with standard fluorescence labels routinely applied in biomedical research.

Cosmic ray particles were discovered by Victor Hess on August 7, 1912, leading to his co-winning the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1936. Initially thought to be rays (photons), in the 1920s they were recognized as being charged particles. I describe in this article how I acquire and process images of cosmic ray particles (CRPs) on a microscope with a digital camera in the imaging core facility I manage.

Energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDS) is an analytical technique used to determine elemental composition. It is a powerful, easy-to-use, non-destructive technique that can be employed for a wide variety of materials. In this technique the electron beam of the scanning electron microscope (SEM) impinges on the sample and excites atomic electrons causing the production of characteristic X rays. These characteristic X rays have energies specific to elements in the sample. The EDS detector collects these X rays as a signal and produces a spectrum. Samples also can be excited by X rays. Collimated and focused X rays from an X-ray source produce characteristic X rays that can be detected by the same EDS detector. When X rays are used as the source of excitation, the method is then called X-ray fluorescence (XRF) or micro-XRF.

Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) X-ray detectors have undergone a wave of technology enhancements since the first silicon drift-based EDS detector (SDD) was commercially introduced roughly 15 years ago. The first such EDS systems featured an active area of 5 mm2, an energy resolution between 160 eV–200 eV, and a maximum collection rate approaching only 100,000 input counts/second.

With advancements in aberration-corrected electron optics, the resolution in scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) has been significantly improved. More importantly, the reduction of the probe size and the increase of the probe current density enable the acquisition of elemental maps at the atomic scale in a fast manner using both EELS and EDS. With the latest generations of EELS spectrometers, atomic resolution compositional and chemical maps allow interfaces, oxidation state, and even single atoms to be examined with increasing detail. These improvements have also enabled elemental and chemical maps to be acquired rapidly using both low- and high-energy edges from elements across the periodic table, including heavy atoms such Au or Pt. On the EDS side, the introduction of large-area silicon drift detectors (SDD) has allowed these high-beam-current sources to be fully utilized. Improved detector area and support for higher count rates, compared to the previous generation of EDS detectors, allows the acquisition of EDS intensity maps from most types of material in the STEM, even for moderately thin samples. For the case of light elements, the reduced detector dead layer of SDD-based systems partially overcomes the very low florescence yield typical of low-energy X-ray lines. Also as reported in, atomic-level X-ray maps using fast detectors and bright sources can now be collected under some conditions. Because EDS and EELS provide complementary information about the sample, and are both generated with the electron beam, it would be wasteful to not acquire both datasets with every sample run.

Thanks very much for the opportunity to speak to you about Shared and High-End Instrumentation Programs at the NIH. There are differences and overlaps among the instrumentation programs in different government agencies. I hope you will find my presentation informative. The Shared and High-End Instrumentation Grant Programs (SIG/HEI) have been administered by the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) since their inception in 1982, more than 30 years ago by Dr. Marjorie Tingle who retired in September of 2011. After the dissolution of NCRR at the end of 2011, SIG/HEI Programs were moved to NIH's Office of Research Infrastructure Programs (ORIP) under the Division of Program Coordination, Planning, and Strategic Initiatives (DPCPSI) in Office of the Director (OD). The current Program Director of the SIG/HEI is Dr. Abraham Levy. These programs provide funds to research laboratories to purchase or upgrade expensive equipment too costly to obtain with regular NIH grants. SIG Program provides funds for the cost range of $100,000–$600,000, and HEI Program provides funds from $750K–$2M.

Robert Hooke was a brilliant British experimental and theoretical scientist who lived and worked in London during the seventeenth century. As a child, Hooke suffered from a devastating case of smallpox that left him physically and emotionally scarred for the rest of his life. He was born the son of a minister on July 18, 1635, at Freshwater, on the Isle of Wight. Hooke's father, John Hooke, took an active role in Robert's early education until he entered the Westminster School at the age of thirteen following his father's suicide. After graduating Westminster in 1648, Hooke first conducted an apprenticeship with artist Sir Peter Lely and then entered Oxford University where he met and studied under some of the greatest scientists in England. Hooke eventually became a paid assistant for Robert Boyle and helped develop a working air pump. He remained in Boyle's laboratory until 1662 when he was made curator of experiments for the Royal Society of London, a job that entailed demonstration of scientific equipment and experimental procedures during weekly meetings of the entire society.

Selected postings from the Microscopy Listserver from March 1, 2013 to April 30, 2013. 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 have a coworker (whom I'll refer to as “Bill”) who can't seem to stop talking like a pirate and keeps a parrot in the lab! It wouldn't be so bad, but he insists on keelhauling his fellow technicians and giving no quarter as he takes over bench space. The parrot sits on his shoulder while he uses the TEM. Consequently we find bird droppings all over the view port and keyboard. The rapscallion's shoulder is almost always stained and reeks of parrot guano. And the ghastly parrot spouts pirate curses on everyone and uses foul language at inopportune moments. I keep finding cracker crumbs in the oddest locations. Bill keeps going off with “Shiver me timbers” this and “Splice the main brace” that. It gets rather annoying since we aren't all piratey and don't know the lingo. Last Wednesday Bill came in bathed in an aura of rum and complaining about some strumpet when he “cracked Jenny's tea cup!” He's even begun dressing the part and wearing an eye patch. Says it helps to see in the darkened room when viewing samples. At least we've made lemonade from the lemons by claiming his missing eye as a handicap for EEO purposes. I'm afraid he may start bringing in cutlasses and cat-o-nine tails next. Our technicians are threatening to mutiny. What can be done?

The field of electron microscopy, by its diverse nature, abounds with acronyms: AEM, EF-TEM, ESEM, FE-SEM, HREM, HRTEM, HVEM, SEM, STEM, TEM, and VP-SEM, to name a few of the instruments. Add in the different forms of data that these instruments might collect, and it can be overwhelming: ADF, BF, BSE, CBED, CL, DF, EBIC, EBSD/BEKP/BKD/EBSP, ECCI, EDS/EDX, EELS, HAADF, NBD, SAD, and SE. For the brave reader, check out the acronym listing at the beginning of DB Williams and CB Carter's series on TEM.