Optical projection tomography

Optical projection tomography is a way to look inside things that are too small to see with our eyes or simple tools like magnifying glasses. It's like taking a picture of the inside of something, but not just one picture - lots of pictures from all different angles. We call it "optical" because it uses light to create the pictures.

Imagine you have a bunch of Legos and you want to see what's inside the pile. You could try picking them up one at a time, but it would take a really long time and you might miss something important. But if you had a special camera that could take a picture of the whole pile at once and then see through each Lego, you could find exactly what you're looking for much quicker.

Optical projection tomography works kinda like that! It takes lots of pictures of something, like a tiny bug or a single cell, from different positions. Then it uses a computer to put all those pictures together to make one 3D image of what's inside. We call this image a "tomogram".

Scientists use optical projection tomography to learn about all sorts of things in biology and medicine. They might use it to see how new medicines affect the insides of cells, or how cancer spreads in a mouse, or how an embryo develops into a baby. It's a really useful tool for exploring the little things that can make a big difference!