The mantis shrimp's compound eyes, which are on stalks, are part of a complex visual system. They constantly scan back and forth, taking in the scene and building up an image line by line.

While the tsunami-ravaged Tohoku region plans its recovery (see main text), contaminated areas around the Fukushima Daiichi power plant are a no-man's land that may remain deserted for decades.

Physicists, chemists, and materials scientists are looking to build on the success of nanoscale science by unraveling the mysteries at the mesoscale.