For London needs one. Microscopy is doubly in the news today, with new light microscopy facilities at Imperial and details of a world-class instrument from the London Centre for Nanotechnology.

The Facility for Imaging by Light Microscopy, or FILM, will be opened today by Imperial Rector Sir Richard Sykes. Housed in the Fleming Building, the new equipment allows ‘observation of life as it happens’ via high-sensitivity widefield and confocal microscopes.

Meanwhile, the BBC investigate a new piece of kit at the London Centre for Nanotechnology – a joint venture between Imperial and UCL. The transmission electron microscope, known as Titan, is the first such instrument in the UK, and can resolve structures just 0.14 nanometres in diameter. The microscope will be used for biomedical applications, and materials science.