Grounds for Science - Seeing the Unseen

Join us to hear how two UC Berkeley researchers are learning about biological processes at the nanoscale.

Living organisms derive their incredible structural and functional diversity from details at the nanoscale.  While fluorescence microscopy enables scientists to visualize specific components in cells, it suffers from limited resolution.  Recent developments in fluorescence microscopy have led to STORM, which can provide a much more detailed view of cellular structures, and can therefore help elucidate how cells function at a fundamental level.  Come learn how this technology works, and see a few real examples of groundbreaking biological discoveries made possible by STORM. 

From camouflage to mating displays to thermoregulation, color is an important tool that organisms use to go about making a living. In addition to producing pigments like melanin and chlorophyll, many organisms erect nanometer-scale structures that redirect the path of incoming light and cause interference. This phenomenon is called 'structural color' and is responsible for iridescence. Come learn how brown Buckeye butterflies evolved blue structural color in just one year, and how their transformation can help us understand the production and evolution of structural color in all butterflies.