Motor oil lubricates engines — but also breaks down and picks up combustion byproducts. Infrared spectroscopy can help companies determine how and when their oil is degrading. A primer article in Practicing Oil Analysis describes IR spectroscopy, as well as how equipment can determine oil quality.

Methods that allow nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to identify compounds without isolation have led to the detection of a hormone that could treat hypertension. This malady occurs when the body fails to flush excess sodium. The technique yielded three new compounds, including the hormone that may differentiate between sodium and potassium.

Metabolites — the substance residue after metabolizing — are important for both drug testing and forensic evidence. Recent papers describe using ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) systems to tease out metabolites from complex biological samples. Researchers combined UPLC and time-of-flight mass spectrometry to detect histamine and its metabolites in hair.

You need to get it right — but you also need results fast. One liquid chromatography system provides improved sensitivity and resolution plus a 90% increase in analysis speed compared to conventional high-pressure liquid chromatography. The instrument can operate with column pressures up to 60 MPa (8700 psi).

Researchers spied an ancient spider with an imaging technique developed for medical use: Very High Resolution X-Ray Computed Tomography. Using the method on the 53 million-year-old spider fossil, they were able to 'digitally dissect' the 1 mm-long arachnid, creating 3D images of its exterior and internal organs. Zootaxa has more details (PDF format).

Borrowing a page from radio and microwave transmitters that use antennae, researchers report creating antennae for infrared laser light. The laser Nano antenna devices allow light to be focused to a much tighter area, which could improve the resolution of both microscopes and infrared spectrometry. This may allow viewing cells at work. Can this technology have other applications?

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Magnetic fields can measure heartbeats and brain activity, or detect the presence of some bombs. The best magnetic sensors previously required cryogenically cooled superconductors, but new sensors don't require supercooling and offer the potential of creating mass-producible, millimeter-sized, low-power magnetometers sensitive to ranges down to femtotesla. Watch the video.

In the subatomic world, electrons can have a definite position. A new instrument provides more accurate measurements of movement in these tiny particles. In a Science article, researchers describe how they used optical fiber to create a pulse of light that lasts only an attosecond (a billion billionth of a second).

Antarctica is the last frontier, and there's a lot we don't know about the polar ice cap, or the land beneath it. A group of researchers are changing that, or at least, they plan to install 10 seismographs each in the east and west parts of Antarctica, and an additional 20 instruments next year. It will be summer in Antarctica, with temperatures maxing out at -30°F.