The first full day of SfN. My favorite lecture was Wilfried Denk’s, about applications of non-linear optics. The idea of mice carrying miniaturized fiber-optical two-photon scopes on their little heads is not totally new, but still awesome. He also mentioned ‘second harmonic imaging’, which can deliver information about orderly molecular arrays and membrane voltage in living cells. Finally he reported on efforts to automate EM imaging of serial sections and the subsequent threedimensional reconstruction – a project that if successful (in the sense of yielding a widely applicable methodology) could make the lives of many grad students a lot easier.

Other lectures today felt less inspiring as they stuck closely to published material. What really got me miffed though was the difficulty of procuring a decent lunch in downtown Atlanta. Few options made for verrrrry long lines. The area is also an amazingly ugly concrete jumble. Folks, I’m so nostalgic for New Orleans! Plenty of good food there!! Hopefully the town will come back, in spite of all the bad news (discouragingly, the papers recently reported that New Orleans’ population now is about 40% of pre-Katrina times…)

Fun nighttime socials made up for some daytime scientific disappointment. Nature Publishing threw a very classy party at the Sundial Restaurant, slowly rotating high above downtown. I was astonished to hear Morgan Sheng, Moses Chao and Bartlett Mel all speak (some) German! Very good, guys, keep it up 🙂

I’m not supplying any links tonight (it’s gotten late with all the partying!) but I may add some later once I get a chance to google for second harmonics… I shall see y’all at the Nature booth tomorrow afternoon!