Ghost in the machine: Chinese scientists create camera that may reveal what goes on in our cells
- By combining two technologies, researchers say they can capture high-resolution images on a microscopic level much faster than before
- That means processes like DNA coding and protein assembly could potentially be recorded in unprecedented detail
A super-resolution camera that uses ghost imaging technology could give scientists new insight into what goes on inside our cells.
Chinese researchers have developed a device that combines the two technologies, enabling scientists to capture high-resolution images on a microscopic level in a fraction of the time taken by existing techniques.
That means scientists could potentially be able to make direct observations of cells in action – something they have not previously found a way to do.
In a paper published in Optica journal this month, Wang Zhongyang and Han Shensheng, from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shanghai, said their device could significantly reduce the time needed to generate a reasonable-quality image of a living cell at nanometre scale – or one-billionth of a metre.
Previously, that one image could take half an hour in a laboratory equipped with state-of-the-art hardware. They say their microscope can do it in one-thousandth of a second.
“Many basic life activities such as DNA coding and protein assembly happen in the blink of an eye. Our new technology can capture this process frame by frame in unprecedented detail,” Wang said.