Scientists Look at Flower Cells in 3D Without Wrecking Them

Plants are Delicate Things, which Makes them a Pain to Study under an Electron Microscope -- you'll Probably Damage the Very Cells you're Trying to Look at. You'll Get a Much Better Look if the University of Florida's New Imaging Technique Catches on, though. Their Approach Leans on Both a Compound Fluorescence Light Microscope and a Camera, to Capture Several Layers of Cells, Creating a Detailed 3D Snapshot of the Cellular Structure of Something as Fragile as a Flower Petal. The Resulting Pictures May Not be Shocking (Surprise: there are Lots of Globs) but, they Should be a Big Deal for Biologists. Researchers would Have a Better Sense of How Animal and Plant Tissues Work, When they're Untouched by Humans, which Could Go a Long Way toward Fighting Diseases and Learning about New Species.




Info Sources:

http://phys.org/news/2015-04-cells-dno-electron-microscopy-required.html

http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.3732/apps.1400112