2021-01-26 04:36:17 GMT2021-01-26 12:36:17(Beijing Time) Xinhua English SYDNEY, Jan. 26 (Xinhua) -- Australian researchers discovered a new way to analyze microscopic cells, tissues and other transparent specimens through the improvement of an almost 100-year-old imaging technique. Phase contrast microscopy, first invented in 1934 by Nobel-prize winning physicist Frits Zernike, is an optical technique that can be utilized to produce high-contrast images of transparent specimens, also a technique commonly used by scientists to study biological specimens. The researchers used custom-designed nanomaterials to enhance the sensitivity of phase contrast microscopy, which allows scientists to detect minute changes in the composition or structure of transparent or nano-thin objects, enabling their key features and structures to be visible when put under a microscope.