A team of researchers affiliated with multiple institutions in Japan has developed a technique for tracing the diffusion of carbon isotopes using atomic-scale vibrational spectroscopy. In their paper published in the journal Nature, the group describes how they used isotopic imaging of 12C carbon atoms embedded in 13C graphene to monitor self-diffusion. Jordan Hachtel, with Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has published an outline of recent research involving attempts to detect isotopes with high spatial resolution and the work done by the team in Japan in the same journal issue.