Science  :  Discoveries  

Tools of the Trade: The Lucrative and Lifesaving Industry of Biophysics

LONG BEACH, California -- The pill that will let you live with a chronic disease later in life, or the test that lets your doctor discover it in the first place, may be based on research going on in biophysics labs today. The Biophysical Society held its 52nd annual meeting here this week, and Wired.com got a chance to take a look at the cool toys these scientists use to make their groundbreaking discoveries.

Biophysicists spend most of their days doing things like measuring the electrical current in individual cells, viewing the molecular interactions between various living things, and manipulating cells on a nanometer scale. So, the equipment they use is super-technical … and supercool.