EMV Technologies LLC is improving kidney dialysis through nanotechnology. “Nanotechnology is a branch of science and engineering devoted to the design and production of extremely small electronic devices and circuits built from individual atoms and molecules”, according to National Institute of General Medical Science. EMV has donated millions of dollars to equip Whitaker Lab with electron microscopes that can focus on an object smaller than an atom. Moreover, EMV Technologies is generous enough to allow students and small businesses to use this multimillion-dollar microscope to for research purposes.

Scientists at Howard Hughes Medial Institute have developed a new light microscope that is so powerful; it can identify single proteins in a cell by utilizing a fluorescent labeling method. The new technology is called PALM, photoactive localization microscopy. PALM allows researchers to spot molecules that are only 2 to 25 nanometres apart. The microscopes before PALM were limited by light wavelength which can not distinguish molecules that are less than 200 nanometres apart. PALM, on the other hand, was designed by utilizing optical microscopy and fluorescent labeling. The level of detail that was achieved with PALM can only compare to electron microscopes. The project is still in development with a major negative aspect, using the PALM is extremely time consuming and takes up to seven hours to obtain a complete image. However, scientists at Howard Hughes Medial Institute are very optimistic about the future of the PALM.

A new revolutionary device was tested in Venice that could potentially bring researches closer to figuring out the cause of red tide. The device is called an autonomous microbial genosensor uses genetic evidence to detect toxic bloom in the water prior to any other signs of red tide. Some of the warning signs of red tide are dead fish washed ashore and discoloration of waters to red or brown. The new device also tracks blooms throughout the growth process to provide scientist with some explanations of conditions which facilitate the outbreak. David Fries the leading researcher in the project is confident that the mechanism works and will be a great replacement for the old way of predicting red tides. The only approved way of detecting red tides by FDA is infection of shellfish, by counting cells under a microscope.

UMass Lowell's DesignCamp is offering some alternatives for summer boredom. DesignCamp offers science and engineering workshops to students in Grades 5-11, immersing them in hands-on experimentation and invention. The most popular activity has been the science class in which students learn to solve crimes "CSI-style"- analyzing fingerprints, blood and hair with microscopes and chemicals.

Recently, Chicago hosted its annual Microscopy and Microanalysis 2006. Millions of dollars worth of electron microscopes, scanning tunnel microscopes and some regular optical microscopes were introduced at the show. The talk of the town was an ion beam and scanning electron microscope. The uniqueness of the devise consists of not only allowing the viewer to see the tiniest objects but to pick them up and move them around. Similar microscopes have been around for a few years now and are essential to science of nanotechnology. Nanotechnology is a branch of science and engineering devoted to the design and production of extremely small electronic devices and circuits built from individual atoms and molecules.