If the key to winning battles is indeed knowing both your enemy
and yourself, then scientists are now well on their way toward
becoming the Sun Tzus of medicine by taking a giant step toward
a priceless advantage – the ability to see the soldiers in
action on the battlefield. The technique involves taking two
silicon-nitride microchips with windows etched in their centers
and pressing them together until only a 150-nanometer space
between them remains. The researchers then fill this pocket with
a liquid resembling the natural environment of the biological
structure to be imaged, creating a microfluidic chamber. Then,
because free-floating structures yield images with poor
resolution, the researchers coat the microchip’s interior
surface with a layer of natural biological tethers, such as
antibodies, which naturally grab onto a virus and hold it in
place. Rotavirus is the most common cause of severe diarrhea
among infants and children. By the age of five, nearly every
child in the world has been infected at le