As anyone who has ever skimmed a book or magazine can tell you, sometimes you don’t have to read every word to grasp the essence. Inspired by this notion, scientists are harnessing the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to enable a form of “speed reading” in microscopy. This could revolutionize the way researchers acquire data and allow them to preserve the integrity of precious samples.
Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Argonne National Laboratory have developed an autonomous, or self-driving, microscopy technique. It uses AI to selectively target points of interest for scanning. Unlike the traditional point-by-point raster scan, which methodically covers every inch like the sequential reading of words on a page, this innovative approach identifies clusters of intriguing features, bypassing humdrum regions of monotonous uniformity.