Nashville, Tennessee, will be the venue for the next Microscopy & Microanalysis meeting, August 7–11, 2011. From the famous Grand Ole Opry to the interesting historical buildings, Nashville has something for everyone.

Fluorescence microscopy can be used to study certain single molecules in solution or attached to a surface. Two conflicting challenges to overcome are: (1) to image freely moving molecules for long times and (2) to image immobilized single molecules when there is a highly fluorescent background. The fact that these two goals are inversely related is illustrated by epifluorescence, which is good for observing freely diffusing molecules but poor for detecting single molecules, whereas the reverse is true for zero-mode waveguides. Plus, these and other techniques require elaborate (read: expensive) equipment with computerized controls. Sabrina Leslie, Alexander Fields, and Adam Cohen have developed an ingenious (relatively) simple technique that can image freely moving single molecules.

Purified rod-shaped frustules of diatoms are characterized by typical patterns consisting of small lamellate dark and bright stripes that are equidistant from each other. The smallest spaces are about 0.2 μm or less; such small distances correspond with the usual limit of resolution in light microscopy. Therefore, high-end equipment is necessary for the observation and photomicrography of these fine structures. In this paper, we report on the lens and illumination combinations required for good results in this special task.

With the recent advances made in monochromation of electron sources and Cs-correction, the point resolution of the transmission electron microscope (TEM) has been extended into the sub-Angstrom regime. This development has led to an important consequence—that specimen preparation has become a more critical issue for the materials scientist. Nanoscale artifacts that could be tolerated a few years ago when imaging in the 0.1–0.15 nm range can no longer be allowed. An example is hydrocarbon contamination, which although only a few monolayers thick, obscures the area of interest. Other examples include residual deformation and oxidation following traditional mechanical methods. Ion-based methods may induce amorphization and implantation defects, depending on the type of ion, its energy, and the particular protocol that is used.

Heating microscopes were commercially introduced 60 years ago, and they immediately gained an important role in material science and engineering thanks to their wide field of application. Nowadays, these instruments are used in both industry and research in many sectors: traditional and advanced ceramic industries, the glass industry, power plants, the metallurgical sector, and, generally, in all fields where the melting behavior of materials has to be determined. Heating microscopy techniques can be successfully applied to the direct characterization of glazes, glasses, frits, ashes, mold powders for continuous casting, coals, slags, etc.—during a heat treatment.

Since its introduction in 2007, DTSA-II has been adopted by numerous researchers, and it has been integrated into numerous educational programs. This is the first of a series of articles in Microscopy Today that will appear in the upcoming months to provide an introduction to use of the product. These articles also will provide details of how DTSA-II can be used to implement best practices for microanalysis in your laboratory or in your teaching environment. These articles will demonstrate how to form the most accurate type of spectrum quantification—standards-base quantification—as well as how to use simulation to optimize various types of measurement problems. They will focus on using DTSA-II to understand the physical process including the interaction of energetic electrons with your sample and the propagation of x-rays through matter and to the detector.

Since the creation of the Joint Committee on Powder Diffraction Standards (JCPDS) over sixty years ago, the Powder Diffraction File (PDF) has been the key source of standard powder diffraction data for identification and analysis of materials of all types, from natural minerals and high-tech ceramics to metals and alloys and pharmaceuticals. Although this editorially reviewed database has been the mainstay for diffraction pattern reference for the x-ray powder diffraction community, recent developments provide information and tools for electron diffraction. In recent years, the International Centre for Diffraction Data (ICDD, formerly JCPDS) has transformed the flat-file format of the PDF to a more flexible relational database (RDB) format. The PDF has been greatly expanded to include calculated patterns from multiple collaborating databases, including the Inorganic Crystal Structure Database (FIZ Karlsruhe, Germany), the Linus Pauling File (MPDS, Vitznau, Switzerland), and the Cambridge Structural Database (CCDC, Cambridge, United Kingdom). A significant portion of its entries include atomic coordinates and a specific database dedicated to organic phases exists. All new entries for the ICDD databases undergo over 100 quality checks before inclusion, and a quality mark is assigned for each entry that passes.

Microscopy & Microanalysis (M&M) is the annual meeting for the Microscopy Society of America, the Microbeam Analysis Society, and the International Metallographic Society, Inc. This is the premier conference for microscopists working in the physical, life, and analytical sciences.

Attempts to fix the gregarine Pterospora floridiensis (a protozoan parasite found in marine bristle worms) for TEM using a conventional glutaraldehyde and osmium protocol produced poor preservation of the outer pellicular membranes and internal membranous structures. However, fixation success was achieved using the well-known fixative additives tannic acid and potassium ferrocyanide, which improved membrane preservation, cytoplasmic integrity, and contrast in both the unencysted feeding stage of P. floridiensis as well as the difficult-to-fix cyst stage. The longer fixation times (24 hours) needed for the cysts were compatible with the modified fixatives. Interestingly, both additives were needed to improve fixation.

Jean-Bernard-Leon Foucault was a French physicist who is considered one of the most versatile experimentalists of the nineteenth century. He is well known for his experiments in optics and mechanics and was involved in the development of a method to measure the speed of light with extreme accuracy. Foucault is most often remembered for proving, with the use of a pendulum, that the Earth rotates on its axis.

Selected postings from the Microscopy Listserver from September 1, 2010 to October 31, 2010. Complete listings and subscription information can be obtained at http://www.microscopy.com. Postings may have been edited to conserve space or for clarity.

There are two principal techniques for obtaining diffraction patterns in the transmission electron microscope (TEM). They are selected-area diffraction (SAD) and convergent-beam diffraction (CBED). CBED is quicker and easier to use, and it provides a much richer characterization of the sample. Thus, it is clear that CBED should be used in the vast majority of cases. It should be the diffraction technique that students learn first, and students should be taught to consider it the standard method of doing diffraction in the TEM.