Tiny 'Space Suit' Protects Bugs From Vacuum

Those cool pictures from electron microscopes of fleas, bedbugs and other tiny creatures have one drawback: The animals die during the process, which means scientists miss out on imaging the bugs while they’re alive — and miss out on filming important biological functions. Tiny “space suits” might be the answer.

Electron microscopes make images by beaming electrons at the subject matter. The problem is that it has to be done in a vacuum chamber, which means any living thing critter isn’t going to stay that way. Samples for a scanning electron microscope have to be specially prepared — even the water in a small creature’s body will evaporate, causing it to collapse. Read more...