Awhile back, we gave you an inside look at the “Dynamic Vapor Sorption” Machine and how it was crucial in creating the perfect weapon against humidity and friction. Today, we’ll go into another piece of advanced technology the Living Proof scientists use every day to make the best products available on the market: the Scanning Electron Microscope.

When we think of microscopes and microscopy (the use of or investigation with a microscope), we are most familiar with “light microscopy”. Light microscopy views an object through a series of lenses that magnify the visible-light image. The result is a much closer view of an object than can be seen by the naked eye; however, the images we see are only 2-dimensional.

Living Proof scientists use an instrument to examine hair fibers called a scanning electron microscope or SEM. Electrons are shot down on the fiber and “deflected” onto a detector. These electrons are then converted into a high resolution, 3-dimensional image.

Since its development in the middle of the twentieth century, the SEM has been used to examine all different kinds of materials, from metal alloys to insects and cells. It’s most famously used in forensic science since it allows you to quickly analyze the elements that compose very small specimens and figure out the origin of many materials that are important in the chain of evidence.

The SEM has gone from places like crime scenes to cell analysis labs to the Living Proof lab — pretty cool, huh?