An innovative microscopy technique bridges the gap between field of view and resolution.
The mammalian brain is a multiscale system. Neuronal circuitry forms an information superhighway, with some projections potentially stretching dozens of centimetres inside the brain. But those projections are also just a few hundreds of nanometres thick — about one one-thousandth the width of a human hair.
Understanding how the brain encodes and transmits signals requires the alignment of events at both these scales. Conventionally, brain researchers have tackled this using a multi-step process: slice tissue into thin sections, image each section at high resolution, piece the layers back together and reconstruct the paths of individual neurons.
