Microscopes are being used to obtain more and more information from a specimen. We are all acquainted with various ways to visualize structures, whether on the surface or embedded within a relatively translucent specimen. There are many ways to “tag” a molecule of interest so that the molecule can be positively identified within the specimen. Traditional microscopes are not able to identify a molecule for us. Other analytical tools are used for that. For example, the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrum of a molecular species yields a “fingerprint” that gives a reliable identification. Wouldn't it be great to combine the sensitivity of a state-of-the-art microscope with the molecular analytical capabilities of NMR?

Well you guessed it, this has been done. This approach was first suggested by John A. Sidles at the University of Washington and has recently been demonstrated by Dan Rugar and colleagues at the IBM Almaden Research Center in San Jose.