could help, Dr Tom Hartman of the School of Life
particles. Carbon emissions is a hot topic currently
Sciences, as there isn’t much of the natural world
and the person who submitted the idea wanted
that he hasn’t imaged. When I approached him to
to know more about what was being produced
ask if he had ever imaged lizard scales, he replied
by their vehicle. TEM was perfect for this, as the
that not only had he imaged the toes of a crested
soot particles could be deposited onto a TEM grid
gecko, but also he had many more frozen specimens
and imaged. This revealed their onion-like layered
in storage if needed.
structure as well as the range of different sizes.
For the spooky season (October) we chose
But what does the future hold for Under the
spider web and collaborated with another UoN
Microscope? Well, we aim to keep the initiative
Life Sciences academic, Professor Sara Goodacre,
going as long as the public remains interested in
who provided us with some samples from her
electron microscopy and we will look to obtain
lab. The most striking element was that some of
more ambitious objects that have been suggested.
the thinnest threads imaged were just 100 nm in
We also have plans to take this directly into schools,
diameter, demonstrating the nanoscale engineering
where the students will be able to suggest ideas
the spiders adopt to create webs.Admittedly, during
and we image them live to them in the classroom.
this imaging session, myself and the operator Nicola
If you would like to submit an idea for us to image,
Weston got distracted finding objects collected in
please visit our website www.nottingham.ac.uk/
the web including a wing and an aphid.
nmrc to find out more.
As part of my role, I actively try to engage as many people in electron microscopy as possible. Remarkably, this has included King Charles III who was “fascinated” about our use of focused ion beam scanning electron microscopy as part of a Coronation celebration project (the letter from Buckingham Place is pride of place in our display cabinet!). However, a big target on my wish list is the actor Timothy Chalamet, and so for December we imaged popping candy chocolate to coincide with the release of the film Wonka. Cracks had formed on the candy exterior surface upon release of the carbon dioxide which gives the sweet its characteristic crackling sound. Sadly despite tagging Timothy in the post on X, I still await his verdict on those images… Up to this point, we had been primarily imaging objects using SEM but some suggestions align far better with transmission electron microscopy (TEM), such as the suggestion of car exhaust
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ISSUE 75 SEPTEMBER 2024
Dr Luke Norman.