This is scientific Americans 60 second science. I'm Karen Hoffman. This will just take a minute.

Think about the tools used by biologists. Perhaps test tubes and microscopes come to mind.

But what about diapers?

No, it's not that investigators are too engrossed in their work to take bathroom breaks.

Turns out the absorbent material in disposable diapers can be used to physically expand biological specimens

and make them easier to see with a microscope.

Researchers at MIT wanted to take a closer look at the connections that form between neurons

and an intact brain. close enough so that they

could see the actual molecules those nerve cells use to interact.

That level of detail is beyond the resolution of conventional light microscopes, but what if the structures of interest could somehow be made bigger?

That's where the diapers come in.

Researchers found that they could infuse their tissue samples with acrylate,

the super-absorbent stuff in throwaway diapers.

The chemical forms a molecular mesh to which the tissue can anchor.

Then when the researchers add water, the acrylate swells, and so does the sample which makes minute structures

more visible the technique is described in the journal science the researchers have used

the acrolate swelling or huggy's enhancement or even pamper's amplification if you will to peer into the brains of mice, fruit flies, and zebrafish.

Now whether this nifty nappy maneuver will expand our understanding of life's smallest cellular mysteries, well, depends.

Thanks for the minute.

For Scientific Americans 60 Second Science, I'm Karen Hopkins.