fuckyeahmolecularbiology:

Clear Thinking

For many years the limits of available technology have thwarted scientists’ attempts to look inside the brain and map out its complexities. Brain tissue is dense and tends to scatter light; most microscopes can’t penetrate more than a few tenths of a millimetre below the surface, making it impossible to observe the intricate details within.

But thanks to a mixture of chemicals called Scale, it is now possible to see further into the brain than ever before. Scale can render brain tissue as clear as glass: After two weeks of treatment a mouse brain is completely transparent with nerve cells intact (left) and a laser beam can pass straight through it (right). The breakthrough treatment has already allowed scientists to image neurons (nerve cells) up to a depth of 4mm.

Not only does this new mixture further facilitate the contemporary study of mammalian brain development, it pushes the boundaries of neuroscientific investigation.

(Source: amolecularmatter)