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This is a scanning electron microscope image of a silicon nanowire array synthesized for thermoelectric applications.

Thermoelectric materials convert heat to electricity and vice versa. Most fossil-fuel-powered engines generate waste heat, so researchers are using nanotechnologies to explore ways of making thermoelectric devices more efficient in order to convert that waste heat to usable power—and thus save energy.

• SIZE: Each nanowire is approximately 100 nm in diameter.

• IMAGING TOOL: Scanning electron microscope

To create this scanning electron microscope image, gold nanoshells were dispersed in a drop of water which then dried on a glass microscope slide. The colors are due to selective scattering of light by nanoscale particles.

Gold Nanoshells have a variety of uses in nanotechnology, and especially in biomedical applications. Nanoshells like these may play important roles in new kinds of cancer treatments, disease detection, and imaging techniques.

• SIZE: These gold nanoshells are each about 120 nm in diameter.

• IMAGING TOOL: Scanning electron microscope

To create this optical microscope image, gold nanoshells were dispersed in a drop of water which then dried on a glass microscope slide. The colors are due to selective scattering of light by nanoscale particles.

Gold Nanoshells have a variety of uses in nanotechnology, and especially in biomedical applications. Nanoshells like these may play important roles in new kinds of cancer treatments, disease detection, and imaging techniques.

• SIZE: These gold nanoshells are each about 120 nm in diameter.

• IMAGING TOOL: Optical microscope

The cholera bacteria in this scanning electron microscope image cause a potentially fatal disease of the digestive system.

• SIZE: These bacteria are each about 500 nm wide and 1-2 µm long.

• IMAGING TOOL: Scanning electron microscope

The tissue culture shown in this scanning electron microscope image is infected with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, or HIV.

• SIZE: HIV particles are 90-120 nm in diameter.

• IMAGING TOOL: Scanning electron microscope

The feet of the gecko cling to virtually any surface. This scanning electron microscope image shows one of the branching hairs, or setae, on the sole of a gecko's foot. These hairs nestle into nanoscale niches on the contact surface.

The colors of the Blue Morpho's wing are generated by nanometer-sized structures on the wing's scales. In this image, light reflected from the scales creates the Morpho's characteristic iridescent blue color.

The colors of the Blue Morpho's wing are generated by nanometer-sized structures on the wing's scales. In this image, only the light passing through the wing is seen, revealing the wing's pigment-produced brown hue.

The nanoscale structures on a gecko's foot enable it to cling to most surfaces. This scanning electron microscope image shows multiwalled carbon nanotubes attached to a polymer backing, an experiment designed to replicate the gecko foot's adhesive properties.

Red blood cells carry a protein called hemoglobin which has a molecular structure adapted to transport oxygen to body tissues. This scanning electron micrograph shows the cells' characteristic donut-like shapes.

• SIZE: The typical diameter of a human red blood cell is 6-8 µm.

• IMAGING TOOL: Scanning electron microscope