What does nature really look like? Scientific instruments enable us to see far more of the physical world than ever before. These devices can register millions of invisible colours, look back in cosmic time some 12 billion years, peer behind and within seemingly opaque barriers such as skin and bone, and capture events that last a mere trillionth of a second. In this volume, images of scientific interest and of beauty are accompanied by Ivan Amato's descriptions, which shed light on the images themselves as well as the technologies that created them.

A unique view of the natural world in stunning close-up. The Natural World Close-up is an incredible journey through the wondrous diversity, complexity and majesty of the natural world as seen through the glass of a super-magnifying lens. More than 300 extraordinary close-up photographs reveal the intimate details of nature's most remarkable creations. These are the closest views that technology will allow. Spectacular high-magnification images zoom in on the most amazing details of plants, animals and natural features of our planet. Like a moving zoom lens, the subject is viewed closer and closer until it no longer resembles the familiar subject first shown. Concise, informative text accompanies the book's photographs. Leafy sea dragons, poison arrow frogs, leaf stomata, fern spores, quartz crystals, metamorphic rocks, glacier ice, rainbows -- the world will never again appear the same. Ideal for all nature lovers, conservationists, wildlife watchers and zoologists, this stunning visual reference is perfect for revealing the beauty and diversity of the natural world.

This profusely illustrated text on Transmission Electron Microscopy provides the necessary instructions for successful hands-on application of this versatile materials characterization technique. The new edition also includes an extensive collection of questions for the student, providing approximately 800 self-assessment questions and over 400 questions suitable for homework assignment.

A unique view of the human body in stunning close-up. The Human Body Close-up provides a spectacular visual experience of the human body and how it works -- as seen through a microscope. In more than 300 extraordinary close-up photographs, the book reveals the intimate details of the body's key systems and parts. These are the closest views that technology will allow. Spectacular high-magnification images zoom in on the most amazing details of the human body. Spreads show a wider view, then a dazzling full-page high-magnification image of the subject, such as muscle tissue or a lung. Like a zooming X-ray, the subject is viewed from the outside to the inside and closer still until it no longer resembles the human body we know. The book covers: The body's building blocks The body's surface systems The skeleton Muscles The sensory organs The nervous system Respiration, blood and circulation The immune system Chemical messengers Fueling the body Reproduction Human development. With expert text and superb cutting-edge imagery, The Human Body Close-up is the definitive home reference for the entire family. It is also a beautiful companion for anyone in a medical or medicine-related field.

In this second edition, there is an enlarged chapter on decoherence, as well as additional material dealing with elements of quantum computation, entanglement of pure and mixed states as well as a chapter on quantum copying and processors. These topics are presented in a unified and didactic manner. The presentation of the book is clear and pedagogical.

The modern electron microscope, as a result of recent revolutionary developments and many evolutionary ones, now yields a wealth of quantitative knowledge pertaining to structure, dynamics, and function barely matched by any other single scientific instrument. It is also poised to contribute much new spatially-resolved and time-resolved insights of central importance in the exploration of most aspects of condensed matter, ranging from the physical to the biological sciences. Whereas in all conventional EM methods, imaging, diffraction, and chemical analyses have been conducted in a static - time-integrated - manner, now it has become possible to unite the time domain with the spatial one, thereby creating four-dimensional (4D) electron microscopy. This advance is based on the fundamental concept of timed, coherent single-electron packets, or electron pulses, which are liberated with femtosecond durations. Structural phase transitions, mechanical deformations, and the embryonic stages of melting and crystallization are examples of phenomena that can now be imaged in unprecedented structural detail with high spatial resolution, and ten orders of magnitude as fast as hitherto. No monograph in existence attempts to cover the revolutionary dimensions that EM in its various modes of operation nowadays makes possible. The authors of this book chart these developments, and also compare the merits of coherent electron waves with those of synchrotron radiation. They judge it prudent to recall some important basic procedural and theoretical aspects of imaging and diffraction so that the reader may better comprehend the significance of the new vistas and applications now afoot. This book is not a vade mecum -- numerous other texts are available for the practitioner for that purpose. It is instead an in-depth expose of the paradigm concepts and the developed techniques that can now be executed to gain new knowledge in the entire domain of biological and physical science, and in the four dimensions of space and time.

Two major questions motivate this study: How do new devices get taken up as experimental systems by scientists? How does the adoption of new instruments affect scientific knowledge? Many ramifications emerge from these two simple questions. Among these are historical questions about how, by whom, and why new instruments are introduced, or about how another, different set of instruments might be adopted given alternative social and cultural circumstances. Philosophical questions include the ways in which scientific understanding of the world depends on scientists’ instruments and techniques. Sociological questions concern such issues as how the organization of work within disciplines and laboratories and other scientific institutions may depend on the equipment employed.All these questions are addressed in this book, which draws upon a range of archival sources as well as published scientific literature, through a detailed historical treatment of the electron microscope’s introduction and early impact on the life sciences. The author first describes the introduction of the electron microscope during the World War II years, and then traces its influence on the subsequent divergence of several life sciences research traditions, including what came to constitute cell biology. The historical evidence is discussed in the light of recent discussions on the origin and nature of molecular biology, the importance of new instruments in the postwar life sciences, and the nature of research traditions, among other issues.Building on the pragmatist tradition, the author also advances an original philosophical argument on the relation of experimental technology to scientific change, arguing that matters of scientific fact (and also matters of the social organization of science) are only settled through agreement on standardized “methods of inquiry.”

Clearly written guide to observing and studying flowers and grasses, fish scales, moth and insect wings, egg cases, buds, feathers, seeds, leaf scars, moss, molds, ferns, common crystals, and more — all with an ordinary, inexpensive magnifying glass. 209 exact line drawings aid in your discoveries.

This text provides students as well as practitioners with a comprehensive introduction to the field of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray microanalysis. The authors emphasize the practical aspects of the techniques described. Topics discussed include user-controlled functions of scanning electron microscopes and x-ray spectrometers and the use of x-rays for qualitative and quantitative analysis. Separate chapters cover SEM sample preparation methods for hard materials, polymers, and biological specimens. In addition techniques for the elimination of charging in non-conducting specimens are detailed.