Element-selective imaging and analysis at atomic resolution have become possible by the recent advancements in TEM and STEM. However, the spatial resolution in images of soft materials can be limited by electron beam damage and/or contamination. This contamination is a carbonaceous layer deposited on the specimen surface as a result of electron bombardment. Beam-induced specimen contamination is caused by polymerization of hydrocarbons that are present in a TEM specimen chamber. The electron beam reacts with stray hydrocarbons in the beam's path to create hydrocarbon ions, which then condense and form carbon-rich polymerized film on the area being irradiated. Figure 1a shows contamination spots created on a carbon thin foil by illuminating a beam with an intensity of 5.6 × 104 el/nm·s at an accelerating voltage of 200 kV. The thickness of the contamination spots can be estimated by electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS). With increase in the irradiation period, the intensity of the zero-loss peak decreases, but the overall intensities in the energy-loss regions of the spectrum increase (Figure 1b). The thickness (D) can be estimated using the equation, D = Λ·ln(It/I0), where Λ is the total mean free path for inelastic scattering, and It and I0 are the integral intensities of the overall spectrum and the zero-loss peak, respectively. Using this equation, the thickness of the contamination was found to be about 600 nm with a 10-minute irradiation.

Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) has developed into a very powerful tool for characterization of surfaces and nanoscale objects. Many physical properties of an object can be studied by AFM with nanometer-scale resolution. Local stiffness, elasticity, conductivity, capacitance, magnetization, surface potential and work function, friction, piezo response—these and many other physical properties can be studied with over 30 AFM modes. What is typically lacking in information provided by AFM studies is the chemical composition of the sample and information about its crystal structure. To obtain this information other characterization techniques are required, such as Raman and fluorescence microscopy. The Raman effect (inelastic light scattering) provides extensive information about sample chemical composition, quality of crystal structure, crystal orientation, presence of impurities and defects, and so on. Information provided by Raman and fluorescence spectroscopy is complementary to the information obtained by AFM. So it is a natural requirement in many research fields to integrate these techniques in one piece of equipment—to provide comprehensive physical, chemical, and structural characterization of the same object. Of course, for routine studies of various samples, it is important to be able to obtain AFM and Raman/fluorescence images of exactly the same sample area, preferably with the same sample scan.

In recent years there has been a virtual explosion in the world of art glass. New glass formulations have brought a host of new colors into the marketplace, and the availability of low-cost, high-quality torches and other tools has brought art glass to the hobbyist. In addition to burn risks and possible cutting injury, there are a number of less obvious hazards that should be known to novice glass workers. One of these is the presence of heavy metals in or on glass surfaces and possibly in the atmosphere immediately surrounding the work area, presenting both potential skin contact and inhalation hazards. This study examines the metallic surfaces generated on five glass colors commonly used in art glass jewelry.

Our group studies the spread of cells in primary breast tumors to distant sites, a process that is called metastasis. In order to metastasize, cells migrate and invade the surrounding areas (invasion) and enter the blood (intravasation).

The infiltration of porous and particulate materials for metallographic examination with low-melting alloys was first described by Rose and DeRoos . The use of Wood's metal to fill porosity in sandstone was reported by Craze , by Dullien , and by Yadev et al. . Changes in pore structure and phase dispersions in iron ore pellets after simulated blast furnace reduction were reported by Shultz et al. , wherein liquid Bi-Sn impregnation was used to prepare cross sections of deformed and reduced pellets for backscatter electron imaging. Steele and Engelalso applied the technique to examine the microstructure in commercial boron nitride (BN). In that study porosity formed by leaching the B2O3 phase was filled with liquid metal to allow argon-ion etching to expose the BN microstructure. The characterization of cracks and porosity in cement-based materials after filling with Wood's metal has been reported by Nemati et al. . Cracks developed during compression testing of marble were studied by in-situ metal impregnation in Chang et al. .

At last year's M&M meeting, the birth centennial of Otto Scherzer, one of the pioneers of electron optics and particularly the correction of electron-optical lenses, was remembered in a special symposium. His scientific achievements have been extensively described in an article by Marko and Rose (2010). Here we try to recollect some personal memories of Otto Scherzer from the time we spent at the “Institut für theoretische Physik” at the Technische Hochschule Darmstadt (now Technische Universität Darmstadt).

Mechanical properties of cells are determined by the dynamic behavior of the cytoskeleton and physical interactions with the environment. The cytoskeleton, composed of actin filaments, intermediate filaments, and microtubules, is vital for numerous key cellular processes, such as cell division, vesicle trafficking, cell contraction, cell motility, and cell signaling. There is increasing evidence that deregulation of cytoskeletal components like disassembly of actin and tubulin filaments is an important parameter in cellular pathology. Thus, significant alterations of the mechanical phenotype of the cell and its surrounding microenvironment are reported to be involved in aberrant cellular processes and successively contribute to onset and progression of diseases such as cancer, malaria, and possibly neurodegeneration. In vitro and ex vivo biomechanical studies have shown that cancer cells have significantly decreased elastic moduli than their normal counterparts, a characteristic that is attributed to the ability of cancer cells to metastasize or spread.

Scanning probe microscopy (SPM) techniques have become a mainstay of nanoscience and nanotechnology by providing easy-to-use, gentle, structural imaging and manipulation on nanometer length scales. Beyond topographic imaging, SPMs have an extremely broad range of applications in probing electrical, magnetic, and mechanical properties. Despite impressive growth in applications, the traditional approach to SPM measurements—based on detection of cantilever response to a well-defined periodic excitation at a single frequency—has remained virtually identical for almost twenty years.

The Microscopy & Microanalysis Meeting (M&M) is the premier meeting for biological scientists, materials scientists, and nanotechnologists who use microscopy or microanalysis in their professional activities. Microscopy & Microanalysis 2010 will be no exception!

The Physics and Astronomy Department of Appalachian State University acquired a Nanosurf Easyscan 2 system in the Fall of 2008 with funds from an NSF MRI award (DMR 0821124). We have used this AFM in over a dozen outreach activities for middle and high school students. We also have incorporated the AFM into several of our college courses, including an overview course on microscopy, a first-year seminar course on nanotechnology, and a senior-level lab course for physics students. We have learned from our outreach and teaching experience that introducing AFM to students excites them about nanoscience and nanotechnology and provides an important opportunity for implementing experiential learning in the classroom. Several principles are reinforced by having the students learn to operate the microscope and acquire images themselves. When students take ownership of acquiring AFM data during sample analysis and are able to take with them a digital file or print out the imaging results, it allows them to share what they learned with their peers and family. This learning cycle, from abstract conceptualization to concrete experience, has proven to be an effective pedagogy for students of all ages. To improve our outreach and teaching activities, we have developed several new learning modules for AFM, and we share one physics-based module here.

There have been many attempts to improve the resolution of electron microscopes. Transmission electron microscopes are normally limited in resolution by a balance between the diffraction limit (which could be overcome by the use of a large objective aperture) and the spherical aberration of the lenses used (which could be overcome by the use of a small objective aperture). In recent years successful attempts have been made to achieve resolutions beyond this limit by holography and also by the development of aberration correctors.

Microscopy Today congratulates its first group of Innovation Award winners. The ten innovations described below move several microscopy techniques forward: light microscopy, scanning probe microscopy, electron microscopy, analytical microscopy, and specimen preparation. These innovations will make imaging and analysis more powerful, more flexible, more productive, and easier to accomplish.

“All microscopes cause contamination of the specimen under the electron beam,” said our instructor at the EELS school I was attending. “Ours doesn't!” I responded. This only caused him to repeat his assertion.

In the last decade, microscopy has been successfully employed by a number of research groups as a means of instilling enthusiasm for science and technology into students of all ages, especially school children . Remote microscopy (or telemicroscopy) and virtual microscopy (in the form of software simulators) continue to play important roles in these efforts and also in the teaching and training of new microscopists . Such work and associated electronic teaching resourceshave become prominent features of conferences such as Microscopy & Microanalysis.

For 20 years, Microscopy/Microscopy Education (MME) has been conducting market surveys for the industry, identifying emerging trends and, even more importantly, giving you, the practicing microscopist and spectroscopist, a chance to impact the direction of instrumentation via your input on our surveys. (Many of you remember us for the M&Ms we used to hand out in exchange for your input at key trade shows). The results of 20 years of your valued participation have been profound: new technology that fits your needs, coming on line faster and more economically.

Every time I meet scientists, I like to ask what got them interested in their field. So far, of all the myriad reasons I have heard, not one has said “I always enjoyed doing problems and answering multiple choice questions.”

The Microscopy Society of America (MSA) is the world's largest professional association of microscopists. The society presently provides the only forum for certification of technologists in the disciplines of biological transmission electron microscopy in the Americas. The certification program was initiated in 1978 to establish standards of technical skills required for ensuring proficiency in biological microscopy practices that could be recognized as leading to national certifications.

Internationally, United States fifteen-year-olds scored 24th in science literacy and 28th in mathematics according to the Congressional Research Service March 2008 report.