Since the days of Perrin (1908) [1], microscopy methods have played an important role in the study of colloidal suspensions. Along with the continued development of new imaging techniques, colloid scientists have also implemented a sophisticated range of computational analyses. These analysis techniques are often the unsung heroes that hold the promise of unlocking scientific mysteries at the next decimal place of colloid science. They now enable precision measurements of particle location and size (Bierbaum et al., 2017; Kurita et al., 2012) as well as measurements of local stresses and forces (Lin et al., 2016). Here, we spotlight these exciting advances focusing on the analysis of simple brightfield and confocal microscope images of dense colloidal suspensions as well as the scientific mysteries they may unravel.

自Perrin（1908）[1 ]时代以来，显微镜方法在胶体悬浮液的研究中起着重要作用。。随着新成像技术的不断发展，胶体科学家还实施了一系列复杂的计算分析。这些分析技术通常是无名英雄，他们有望在胶体科学的下一个小数位释放科学之谜。他们现在可以精确测量颗粒的位置和大小（Bierbaum等人，2017; Kurita等人，2012）以及局部应力和力的测量（Lin等人，2016）。在这里，我们重点关注这些激动人心的进展，重点是对密集的胶体悬浮液的简单明场和共聚焦显微镜图像进行分析，以及它们可能揭示的科学奥秘。