There are probably few people who do not dream of the good old times, when do ing science often meant fascination, excitement, even adventure. In our time, do ing science involves often technology and, perhaps, even business. But there are still niches where curiosity and fascination have their place. The subject of this book, technological as its title may sound, is one of the fortunate examples. It will report on lasers generating the coldest places in the Universe, and on table top laser microtools which can produce a heat "inferno" as it prevails in the interior of the Sun, or simulate, for specific plant cells, microgravity of the space around our plan et Earth. There will be some real surprises for the reader. The applications range from basic studies of the driving forces of cell division (and thus life) via genetic modification of cells (for example, for plant breeding) to medical applications such as blood cell analysis and finally in vitro fertilization. What are these instruments: laser microbeams and optical tweezers? Both are lasers coupled with a fluorescence microscope. The laser microbeam uses a pulsed ultraviolet laser. Light is focused, as well as possible, in space and time, in order to obtain extremely high light intensities - high enough to generate, for a very short instant, extremely hot spots which can be used to cut, fuse or perforate biological material.

Up to about twenty-five years ago, virtually the entire field of microscopy could be overseen and even practized by any active research worker. The rapid evolution which microscopy in its broadest sense has since undergone and which has contributed greatly to our insight in many fields of biological science and medicine has, however, lead to a progressive specialisation. Both experienced investigators in clinical and biological laboratories and post graduate students, confronted with a limited number of microscopic tech niques in their daily research work, have increasing difficulty in keeping (or obtaining) a general idea of the many time-honoured and new possibilities which microscopy has to offer. This book has been written with the aim of presenting general informa tion on light microscopic techniques, at a level somewhere in between booklets like those provided by microscope manufacturers (which are often too much focussed on the production program of a particular make) and very advanced treatises with a thorough mathematical treatment of all phenomena concerned. The physically oriented texts moreover often do not sufficiently take into account the practical situation in a medical or biolog ical laboratory; on the other hand, the value of really understanding what one is doing in using a microscopic technique is often underestimated. At tempt has been made, therefore, to present sufficient background informa tion necessary for a rational application of the different microscopical tech niques in their mutual relationship.

This book describes the substantial progress recently made in the development of micro and nanorobotic systems, utilizing magnetic, optical, acoustic, electrical, and other actuation fields. It covers several areas of micro and nanorobotics including robotics, materials science, and biomedical engineering. Field-Driven Micro and Nanorobots for Biology and Medicine provides readers with fundamental physics at the micro and nano scales, state-of-the-art technical advances in field-driven micro and nanorobots, and applications in biological and biomedical disciplines.

Almost all life depends on light for its survival. It is the ultimate basis for the food we eat (photosynthesis), and many organisms make use of it in basic sensory mechanisms for guiding their behaviour, be it through the complex process of vision, or by the relatively more simple photosens itivity of microorganis~urthermore, light has profound implications for the field of medicine, both as a cause of disease (ie UV damage of DNA), and as a therapeutic agent (ie photodynamic therapy). These and other processes are the basis for the science of photobiolog~ which could be defined as the study of the effects of (visible and ultraviolet) light (from both the sun and artificial sources) on living matter. By its very nature, therefore, it is a multidisciplinary science involving branches of biology, chemistry, physics and medicine. This book contains a selection of papers which have been chosen to highlight recent advances in the various disciplines that make up photo biology. Although no book on photobiology can hope to be comprehensive, we hope that this volume includes a representative sample of much of what is new in the field. It is, however, inevitable that some areas will be better represented than others reflecting the biases of conference org anisers and editors.

The second edition of Nanotechnology in Biology and Medicine is intended to serve as an authoritative reference source for a broad audience involved in the research, teaching, learning, and practice of nanotechnology in life sciences. This technology, which is on the scale of molecules, has enabled the development of devices smaller and more efficient than anything currently available. To understand complex biological nanosystems at the cellular level, we urgently need to develop a next-generation nanotechnology tool kit. It is believed that the new advances in genetic engineering, genomics, proteomics, medicine, and biotechnology will depend on our mastering of nanotechnology in the coming decades. The integration of nanotechnology, material sciences, molecular biology, and medicine opens the possibility of detecting and manipulating atoms and molecules using nanodevices, which have the potential for a wide variety of biological research topics and medical uses at the cellular level. This book presents the most recent scientific and technological advances of nanotechnology for use in biology and medicine. Each chapter provides introductory material with an overview of the topic of interest; a description of methods, protocols, instrumentation, and applications; and a collection of published data with an extensive list of references for further details. The goal of this book is to provide a comprehensive overview of the most recent advances in instrumentation, methods, and applications in areas of nanobiotechnology, integrating interdisciplinary research and development of interest to scientists, engineers, manufacturers, teachers, and students.