Understand the physics behind total internal reflection and why light can become completely trapped inside a medium. This video explains the conditions required for total internal reflection, the role ...

TIRF is a microscopy technique that is used to image fluorescent molecules, such as green fluorescent protein (GFP) and fluorochromes, in liquids that are adjacent to a solid with a high refractive ...

Cool operator: the Saharan silver ant Cataglyphis bombycina. (Courtesy: P Landmann) A species of desert-dwelling ant is able to tolerate temperatures exceeding 50 °C because its body hairs act like ...

In TIRF microscopy, fluorescent molecules are in a sample in an aqueous environment that is near a solid with a high refractive index, usually a glass coverslip. At what is called the critical angle, ...

When a ray of light that is travelling through a piece of glass strikes the interface between the glass and the air, it changes direction according to Snell’s law. If the angle of incidence is less ...