In an international scientific breakthrough, a research team was able to photograph the shadow of a single atom for the first time.
“We have reached the extreme limit of microscopy; you can not see anything smaller than an atom using visible light,” Professor Dave Kielpinski of Griffith University’s Centre for Quantum Dynamics in Brisbane, Australia, said.
“We wanted to investigate how few atoms are required to cast a shadow and we proved it takes just one,” Professor Kielpinski said.
“Absorption imaging of a single atom” is the result of work over the last 5 years by the Kielpinski/Streed research team.
At the heart of this Griffith University achievement is a super high-resolution microscope, which makes the shadow dark enough to be visible.
No other facility in the world has the capability for such extreme optical imaging.
Holding an atom still long enough to take its photo, while remarkable in itself, is not new technology; the atom is isolated within a chamber and held in free space by electrical forces.
Professor Kielpinski and his colleagues trapped single atomic ions of the element ytterbium and exposed them to a specific frequency of light. Under this light the atom’s shadow was cast onto a detector, and a digital camera was then able to capture the image.
“By using the ultra hi-res microscope we were able to concentrate the image down to a smaller area than has been achieved before, creating a darker image which is easier to see”, Professor Kielpinski said.
The precision involved in this process is almost beyond imagining.
“If we change the frequency of the light we shine on the atom by just one part in abillion, the image can no longer be seen,” Professor Kielpinski said.
Research team member, Dr Erik Streed, said the implications of these findings are far reaching.
“Such experiments help confirm our understanding of atomic physics and may be useful for quantum computing,” Dr Streed said.
There are also potential follow-on benefits for biomicroscopy.
“Because we are able to predict how dark a single atom should be, as in how much light it should absorb in forming a shadow, we can measure if the microscope is achieving the maximum contrast allowed by physics.
“This is important if you want to look at very small and fragile biological samples such as DNA strands where exposure to too much UV light or x-rays will harm the material.
“We can now predict how much light is needed to observe processes within cells,under optimum microscopy conditions, without crossing the threshold and destroying them,” he said.
And this may get biologists thinking about things in a different way.
“In the end, a little bit of light just might be enough to get the job done,” Dr Streed added..
The picture published in Nature Communications.
Cancer survivors welcome embryo screening
Kellee Nolan
July 3, 2012AAP
Breast cancer survivor Petrina Burnett says she doesn't "even want to go there" when asked whether she would have children naturally.
She is worried about the risk of passing on a genetic mutation called BRCA 1, a predisposition to cancer that she has a 50 per cent chance of passing on to any children she may have.
At 36, she is relieved to know that if she does have children, she can use embryo screening technology to choose ones without the mutated BRCA gene to go on to pregnancy with.
People with the BRCA mutation have a 60-80 per cent chance of getting breast cancer and a 30-60 per cent chance of getting ovarian cancer.
Ms Burnett survived the aggressive cancer after being diagnosed at 31.
She has also seen her grandmother die of ovarian cancer, her aunt die of breast cancer and her cousin diagnosed with breast cancer.
The preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) technology used for the embryo screening has been available for 20 years in Australia and is applied to a range of other illnesses, such as cystic fibrosis.
Melbourne IVF medical director Lyndon Hale said in the last few years it had been taken up in Victoria by a "handful" of fertile women, who would otherwise not need IVF assistance to conceive.
Dr Hale says it is logical that women with the BRCA mutation would wish to protect their children from facing the same risk of a potentially fatal illness.
"Here you have a family which has dealt with several breast cancers, now the person has found out they're carrying the gene themselves, they've got a 60-80 per cent chance of having breast cancer ...
"So they're dealing with a lot at this point in time and if they've still not had children then they're thinking, 'if I have kids, they're going to have exactly the same issues as I've got'."
Ms Burnett and Dr Hale both rejected any label of "designer babies" being attached to the BRCA screening.
"What's designer about it?" Ms Burnett said. "It's not about choosing the colour of your child's eyes. It's about survival, it's about quality of life."
PGD testing to prevent transmission of a genetic abnormality or disease is available around Australia under various acts and guidelines.
Breast Cancer Network Australia chief executive Maxine Morand said it was not unusual for women with a breast cancer gene mutation to have four, five or sometimes more breast cancer sufferers in their family, creating devastating effects over generations.
"It is understandable couples would want to avoid passing them on to their children. It is very important that couples are supported to make an informed decision," Ms Morand said.
Breast cancer survivor Petrina Burnett says she doesn't "even want to go there" when asked whether she would have children naturally.
She is worried about the risk of passing on a genetic mutation called BRCA 1, a predisposition to cancer that she has a 50 per cent chance of passing on to any children she may have.
At 36, she is relieved to know that if she does have children, she can use embryo screening technology to choose ones without the mutated BRCA gene to go on to pregnancy with.
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"I would certainly be looking on it as a positive option, definitely," Ms Burnett, of Perth, told AAP.People with the BRCA mutation have a 60-80 per cent chance of getting breast cancer and a 30-60 per cent chance of getting ovarian cancer.
Ms Burnett survived the aggressive cancer after being diagnosed at 31.
She has also seen her grandmother die of ovarian cancer, her aunt die of breast cancer and her cousin diagnosed with breast cancer.
The preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) technology used for the embryo screening has been available for 20 years in Australia and is applied to a range of other illnesses, such as cystic fibrosis.
Melbourne IVF medical director Lyndon Hale said in the last few years it had been taken up in Victoria by a "handful" of fertile women, who would otherwise not need IVF assistance to conceive.
Dr Hale says it is logical that women with the BRCA mutation would wish to protect their children from facing the same risk of a potentially fatal illness.
"Here you have a family which has dealt with several breast cancers, now the person has found out they're carrying the gene themselves, they've got a 60-80 per cent chance of having breast cancer ...
"So they're dealing with a lot at this point in time and if they've still not had children then they're thinking, 'if I have kids, they're going to have exactly the same issues as I've got'."
Ms Burnett and Dr Hale both rejected any label of "designer babies" being attached to the BRCA screening.
"What's designer about it?" Ms Burnett said. "It's not about choosing the colour of your child's eyes. It's about survival, it's about quality of life."
PGD testing to prevent transmission of a genetic abnormality or disease is available around Australia under various acts and guidelines.
Breast Cancer Network Australia chief executive Maxine Morand said it was not unusual for women with a breast cancer gene mutation to have four, five or sometimes more breast cancer sufferers in their family, creating devastating effects over generations.
"It is understandable couples would want to avoid passing them on to their children. It is very important that couples are supported to make an informed decision," Ms Morand said.
The Science of Farting-now farting as treatment for high B.P.
Farting can help treat high blood pressure
LONDON: Flatulence could help treat patients with high blood pressure, according to a new research. Hydrogen sulphide - a toxic gas that is generated by bacteria living in the human gut - has been shown to control blood pressure in mice. The study showed that the rodents with higher levels of the gas had lower blood pressure than those with less.
Boffins at Johns Hopkins University, in Baltimore, Maryland , US, found that hydrogen sulphide in flatus - informally known as a fart - is also produced by an enzyme in blood vessels where it relaxes them and lowers blood pressure. Now researchers at China's Southeast University in Nanjing are trying to figure out the possibility of using this to create a treatment for people suffering from high BP.
"Despite the treatment's potential, using gas to treat high BPhas yet to be tested on humans," Sun quoted professor Yao Yuyu from Zhongda Hospital as saying.
LONDON: Flatulence could help treat patients with high blood pressure, according to a new research. Hydrogen sulphide - a toxic gas that is generated by bacteria living in the human gut - has been shown to control blood pressure in mice. The study showed that the rodents with higher levels of the gas had lower blood pressure than those with less.
Boffins at Johns Hopkins University, in Baltimore, Maryland , US, found that hydrogen sulphide in flatus - informally known as a fart - is also produced by an enzyme in blood vessels where it relaxes them and lowers blood pressure. Now researchers at China's Southeast University in Nanjing are trying to figure out the possibility of using this to create a treatment for people suffering from high BP.
"Despite the treatment's potential, using gas to treat high BPhas yet to be tested on humans," Sun quoted professor Yao Yuyu from Zhongda Hospital as saying.
Boffins at Johns Hopkins University, in Baltimore, Maryland , US, found that hydrogen sulphide in flatus - informally known as a fart - is also produced by an enzyme in blood vessels where it relaxes them and lowers blood pressure. Now researchers at China's Southeast University in Nanjing are trying to figure out the possibility of using this to create a treatment for people suffering from high BP.
"Despite the treatment's potential, using gas to treat high BPhas yet to be tested on humans," Sun quoted professor Yao Yuyu from Zhongda Hospital as saying.
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