On this 10th anniversary of the first issue of Nature Methods it is appropriate to look back at the relationship between the journal and super-resolution microscopy, one of the technologies we have chosen as one of the top ten methods developments in the ten years since Nature Methods published it first issue. Read more
It was only a few months before Nature Methods was launched in October 2004 that Jan Huisken and Ernst Stelzer had published a paper in Science in which they used light sheet microscopy – what they called selective plane illumination microscopy or SPIM – to image fluorescence within transgenic embryos. Simplistically put, this century-old technique achieves optical sectioning by illuminating a sample through its width with a thin sheet of light. In the last decade, Nature Methods has published a steady stream of papers reporting developments in light-sheet imaging. Here are the highlights. Read more
It is now possible to map the activity of nearly all the neurons in a vertebrate brain at cellular resolution. What does this mean for neuroscience research and projects like the Brain Activity Map proposal? Read more
Nature Methods has long been an advocate of the value of community experiments (or competitions/challenges) to assess and compare the performance of algorithms and software tools. In 2008 we discussed the value of these competitions and advocated that they also be used to assess the performance of less widely used algorithms such as those used for single particle tracking. Such an experiment for assessing single particle tracking was run in 2012, although the results are still awaiting publication. Read more
Several years ago, based on informal input from various members of the community, Nature Methods established some internal minimum reporting standards for manuscripts describing new or improved fluorescent proteins. These were never formally reported but were often communicated to authors of submitted manuscripts when the characterization data provided didn’t meet these standards. Read more
Our very first webinar is now live. The topic is “Fluorescent protein and sensors: A practical discussion” and you can register to view it at www.nature.com/webcasts/fluorescent_proteins. Read more
In single cell experiments, each well in a 384-well plate can spout a fountain of information. Chris Bakal at the Institute of Cancer Research, which is part of the University of London, practices “high content in high throughput” as he extracts hundreds of different features from single cells in his lab. In this month’s technology feature on single cell analysis, Bakal explains where his work leads and what he looks for in an imaging system. Read more
For the last few years Nature Methods has published the winning image of the Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition on our cover. This year I was lucky enough to serve on the competition judging panel alongside three other judges chosen by the competition organizers. The competition was fierce but the image below was chosen as the winner. Read more