Adapting nanotechnology imaging tools to study ants' heat-deflecting adaptations

In a typical experiment involving biological material such as nanoscale hairs, it would usually be sufficient to use an electron microscope to create an image of the surface of the specimen. This research, however, required to look inside the ant hairs and produce a cross-section of the structure's interior. The relatively weak beam of electrons from a standard electron microscope would not be able to penetrate the surface of the sample.