To understand how life works, you need to watch it in action, says bioimaging scientist Gokul Upadhyayula. Taking us down to the cellular level, he shares the work behind cutting-edge microscopes that capture and record, in three dimensions, the complex behaviors of living organisms -- from infecting cancer cells to crawling immune cells -- and what they're revealing about the dynamics of biology. Watch life unfold before your eyes with the incredible visuals in this talk.

The life unfolding inside your cells, revealed in 3D

Life’s true workings can only be understood by watching living cells in action, not just through still snapshots. Advanced 3D microscopes now let scientists observe intricate processes like viruses invading cells or cancer spreading, all at the scale of a human cell—one hundred million times smaller in volume than an ant. By minimizing light damage and adapting techniques from astronomy, researchers capture clear images of living systems as never before. This technology opens new frontiers in biology, enabling discoveries that could change how disease is diagnosed and treated.