Most Powerful Microscope Magnifies One Billionths of a Meter

The latest in science news turns focus on the most powerful of all microscopes thanks to a team of Manchester scientists who successfully reached an even smaller microscopic world at 20x [50 nanometres / nanometers / nm]. Through lateral resolution with a white-light nanoscope this microscope is powerful enough to scope the world at raindrop magnification. Small enough to explore viruses, including a 20 nm cold virus. It could be a smaller world after all.

Professor Lin Li led the University of Manchester project defining the "magnifi-cent" technology as a "world record in terms of how small an optic microscope can go by direct imaging under a light source covering the whole range of optical spectrum."

Professor Li's playground at 50 nms sounds interesting. But how interesting would it be to view just one nanometer?

A nanometer, formerly known as millimicron, is the equivalent to 1 billionth of a meter. A nanometer's scientific notation is 1 x 10 (-9) m. Meaning one zero, one decimal point, 8 zeros and the number 1 [measurement, 0.000000001 m]. A standard micrometer [scientific notation 1 x 10 (-6) m or 0.000001 m] is equivalent to 1 millionth of a meter. A yawn alert for sure but nothing short of micro-amazing to those with interest.

The powerful microscope can assist with, as mentioned, getting inside of viruses and seeing how they tick. Figuring out how viruses work is only part of the human / virus battle. Take morgellons, living fiber disease to some - a head game to others. Despite divided debate morgellons appears as dark fibers [worm] magnified. But imagine magnifying the head of one fiber [energy source]. It would be interesting to find out how the sensor works and where to locate a footprint. But that is another story.

Science Daily's source runs back to Nature Communications. Nature Communications charges $32 to read the author's article. An article delivered to them on August 16, 2010, accepted on January 26, 2011 and finally published March 1, 2011. There was no word on the cost of the microscope.

The science community hopes for future success and access as a microscope of this caliber makes it hard for any scientist to simply walk by. The microscopic buzz is huge - 50 nanometer huge!

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Related Source(s):

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/03/110301121952.htm\
http://www.nature.com/ncomms/journal/v2/n3/full/ncomms1211.html