A graphene water balloon may soon open up new vistas for scientists seeking to understand health and disease at the most fundamental level.
Electron microscopes already provide amazingly clear images of samples just a few nanometers across. But if you want a good look at living tissue, look again.
“You can’t put liquid in an electron microscope,” says Tolou Shokuhfar, of Michigan Technological University. “So, if you have a hydrated sample—and all living things are hydrated—you have to freeze it, like a blueberry in an ice cube, and cut it into a million thin pieces, so the electrons can pass through. Only then can you image it to see what’s going on.”