What's coming out of that smokestack or aerosol spray? Spectroscopy can provide the answers for atmospheric science, combustion systems, and even medical and pharmaceutical applications. The aerosol mobility size (AMS) spectrometer measures aerosol size distribution in about a second, and with a 50x improvement over scanning mobility particle sizers.

Tired over the media circus about athletes accused of taking anabolic steroids? All the media speculation could come to an end with faster testing methods. A method that combines desorption electrospray ionization and tandem mass spectrometry can accurately identify a variety of steroids in seconds using a single drop of urine.

Melamine, a nitrogen-rich industrial chemical, recently killed pets when it was included in many types of pet food. Previous QC tests didn't differentiate between melamine and edible protein. A gas chromatography/mass spectrometry system can determine whether melamine adulterates protein-based foods including wheat gluten, rice protein, corn gluten, and soy protein.

Pesticide run-off is measured in various ways, but most methods don't also track pesticide transformation products. These byproducts can be as toxic as the pesticides themselves. A researcher at the Universitat Jaume I combined liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry with quadrupole time-of-flight analyzers to identify the compounds formed as pesticides degrade.

Developing imaging methods other than X-rays to detect breast cancer is difficult because breast tissue scatters light at many wavelengths and contrast agents have been lacking. Researchers report a breakthrough contrast agent for near-infrared fluorescence imaging that could be used for mammography. It images microscopic calcium salt deposits in soft tissue.

Imaging for analytical instruments is important — but first you have to catch the photons. In faint-light conditions, that becomes a real challenge. A new quantum-dot transistor (called QDOGFET) can count individual photons, which could lower the limit of low-light imaging, as well as finding use in quantum cryptography applications.

Surface contamination is a big problem for both microelectronics and biotech industries. A Controlled Environments article compares and contrasts two methods commonly used for locating, identifying, and quantifying trace surface contaminants: X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), in part one of a two-part article.

The engineer who first scribed lines on an oscilloscope screen did the world a huge favor. An equally useful tool is being patented by Brookhaven National Laboratory: a micron-scale metallic marking grid on which samples can be placed and imaged using various methods. It allows the different images to be calibrated and combined.

Kids are natural scientists, and a recent event by the American Chemical Society gave hundreds of kids a chance to play with chemistry and parts were caught in this YouTube video. The event held at the Museum of Science coincided with the ACS Annual Meeting in Boston this August. There's nothing quite as cute as a preschooler in safety goggles. Perhaps there is a budding chemist in your household.