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6 March 2014 1:04 pm ,
Vol. 343 ,
Magdalena Koziol, a former postdoc at Yale University, was the victim of scientific sabotage. Now, she is suing the...
Antiretroviral drugs can protect people from becoming infected by HIV. But so-called pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP...
Two studies show that eating a diet low in protein and high in carbohydrates is linked to a longer, healthier life, and...
Considered an icon of conservation science, researchers at World Wildlife Fund (WWF) headquarters in Washington, D.C.,...
The new atlas, which shows the distribution of important trace metals and other substances, is the first product of...
Early in April, the first of a fleet of environmental monitoring satellites will lift off from Europe's spaceport in...
Since 2000, U.S. government health research agencies have spent almost $1 billion on an effort to churn out thousands...
- 6 March 2014 1:04 pm , Vol. 343 , #6175
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ScienceShot: The Invisible Mouse
31 August 2011 2:31 pm
What goes on inside a mouse's brain? Even though researchers have developed ways to make neurons fluoresce, they have a hard time observing them in an intact animal. Enter a new chemical cocktail named Scale. Researchers serendipitously discovered that a mixture of urea, glycerol, and soap makes synthetic membranes transparent. When they tried the mixture on a developing mouse fetus, they found that it removed all of the pigment from the cells, rendering them completely transparent (right). The technique, described online this week in Nature Neuroscience, allows scientists to see fluorescent neurons buried several millimeters in the brain (inset). But no need to worry about invisible mice creeping into your kitchen; Scale is too strong to use on a living animal.
See more ScienceShots.