Science Cafe is held the first Wednesday of every month at McMullan's Irish Pub (4650 W. Tropicana Ave). Doors open at 6:30 p.m. with trivia and the presentation starting promptly at 7 p.m.

Bring friends and family for informal public discussions with leading scientists on interesting topics. Grab some dinner while listening.

Andres Gutierrez Garcia, Ph.D., the Confocal Imaging Core Manager at UNLV's School of Life Sciences will be giving a talk titled, "What Does “Resolution” Really Mean?" 

Abstract

Microscopy is often described as “seeing small things,” but what really matters is not just making something look bigger; it is being able to separate details that are very close together. When two features are too close, the microscope may show one blur instead of two distinct objects, which can make it impossible to distinguish tiny organelles, follow fast changes inside cells, or spot differences between molecules that at first look identical. In practice, this ability to tell things apart is called resolution, and it is not just a random number: choosing resolution that is too low hides important details, while pushing it unnecessarily high can flood us with data that does not actually help answer our biological questions. This seminar will clarify what resolution really means, show why it is more than one number, and explain how we use the right kind of resolution to address questions about structure, dynamics, and molecular environment. By the end, you will have a clearer sense of what microscopes can reveal, what their limits are, and why those limits matter for the life sciences.