this is some of the best microscopic
footage of the year it's from nikon's
small world in motion competition where
the best entries are selected for their
beauty and uniqueness but there's much
more to these images than their
eye-catching appearance
they're also helping to answer some of
the world's biggest questions
researchers captured this process of
melanoma cells morphing into two
compartments footage obtained by placing
the cancer cell under extreme
confinement
we can create environments in which we
mimic the micro environment of the human
body and we're watching the cell adapt
and move in this micro environment so we
call one part the small round part the
cell body and the long part the leader
blair and the leader blep always leads
the cell body to this other location
during cell motility knowing how cells
adapt and change in this environment is
a vital piece of information on how
cancers form and move throughout the
body to help understand cell motility
hopefully one day we can help reduce the
spread of cancer
and he isn't alone scientists gloria
slattum and stefan datewiler were able
to track the development and movement of
cancerous cells in a zebrafish embryo
the small blue dot you can see moving
through the pink and purple dots in
other cells these dots are thanks to a
fluorescent component that can be fused
to any protein first extracted from
jellyfish by the late nobel prize winner
roger chen
by filming the whole tissue we can
actually analyze what happens in the
whole animal but then we can zoom in and
look with very precision that was
happening in
particular cells and since zebrafish
share over 70 of their genetic building
blocks with humans this footage can help
inform research on how cancer cells
interact in humans only if you know the
context of a cell we can truly
understand how it migrates through a
body and how it interacts and which
cells are important on its path through
a body the more information scientists
gather in this area the more they'll be
able to detect cancer cells earlier in
formation and understand their movements
after
but this type of microscopic imagery of
zebrafish isn't limited to just cancer
research
it can also help in understanding human
body development
the zebrafish is a really great model
because it's obviously transparent as it
develops and we can watch
blood vessels as they grow
that's exactly what you've been watching
here a zebrafish embryo developing and
forming blood vessels the speckles shown
in green
we're interested in the genes that are
involved in determining which vessels
are arteries and veins we're interested
in how blood vessels know where to grow
in the developing embryo understanding
blood vessel development allows
researchers like daniel to track and
monitor how blood moves in the early
stages of body formation a vital piece
in the puzzle when developing targeted
therapies for cancer treatments you can
also use similar techniques to learn how
that blood is pumped in the first place
by looking at microscopic hearts a two
day old zebrafish heart to be precise
there's about one percent of babies that
are born with heart defects for the us
last year that represents 40 000
children
and
if we want to help these kids we need to
get a lot more information about hearts
before they are born looking at how the
heart works in microscopic detail is a
major step
there's always been a sort of a question
of how this heart pump what are the
minimal elements required to to pump
blood and heart and that's what i'm
trying to to uncover
anjali and her colleagues watch the
beating zebrafish hearts to pinpoint
specific functions and mechanisms like
how the heart beats without backward
blood flow which will help uncover these
mysteries and importantly help prevent
birth defects
and this technology is advancing so much
that scientists are now even able to
look at microscopic images of our brain
because this isn't a dazzling lightning
strike in the night sky it's actually
growing brain cells
andy moore a postdoctoral associate at
the howard hughes medical institute
looked at the growth of active neurons
in rat embryos this footage shows a
critical step in brain development the
period when the neuron decides which of
the many neurites become the axon the
part that will be in charge of sending
an electric current and until images
such as andes this information wasn't
properly understood it turns out a lot
of these things that we thought we
understood really well from textbooks
maybe didn't get things quite as right
as they could have now that we have the
live movies in front of us and all these
new technologies that we can use to look
at those questions
andy and his team can start to look at
how neurons transmit function and
develop in extreme detail as well as
looking at how these cells grow and how
proteins within the brain move and push
things around which in turn allows them
and other researchers to see how severe
neurological diseases like als form as
well
but other images in the competition went
a little more old school and helped shed
light on important ecosystems
eric lynn captured this collection of
images of a freshwater snail embryo in
which you can see the heartbeat as it
develops
and richard kirby a plankton specialist
captured this horseshoe worm larva these
species might not be as well known as
other stars of aquatic life but it's one
of the biggest hidden worlds of life on
this planet then changes at the bottom
will translate to changes at the top so
looking at the base of the marine food
chain gives you a way to understand
what's happening in the ecosystem and
changing the ecosystem in particular but
this year's winner of the small world in
motion competition wasn't alive at all
the star of the show was a simple water
droplet technically micro droplets that
are 80 water and 20 ethanol the video
was taken by xiaoyen and qazi robbie
whose research focuses on creating
surfaces that repel water which you can
see happening in the video
something that could help manufacturers
create energy efficient technologies
like improving air conditioning units or
stopping pipes from freezing in the
winter time
or even preventing your glasses from
fogging up
and it's this image that encapsulates
what microscopic images do best bringing
us all into the unseen world of the
small and minuscule and offering a
vision of the future