Raman spectroscopy may help identify "mischief at the molecular level" — that is, the beginnings of disease not yet obvious at a structural level, nor visible to most imaging methods. Using the power of light to improve disease detection, the method gives doctors, dentists, and forensic scientists a better tool for detecting identify tumors, cavities, and other conditions.

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy works by aligning nuclei in a magnetic field before jiggling them with radio waves and recording how long it takes them to re-align. Until recently, this required large, powerful magnets. Now, Harvard Medical School researchers have miniaturized NMR, making it easier to detect diseases and pathogens.

Scanning electron microscopes revolutionized Nanotechnology, allowing us to create images with electrons rather than light. But what have SEMs done for us lately? A family of extreme high-resolution scanning electron microscopes provide fast 3D scans with resolutions below 1 nm, and work at low beam energies that are less destructive to the samples.

A novel X-ray microscope lets users peer at the interior makeup of semiconductor devices and cells. The Megapixel Pilatus detector (whose big brother will detect collisions from CERN's Large Hadron Collider), can count millions of X-ray photons over a large area. The design lets the instrument image deep below the surface.

Chromatography uses toxic solvents, so what's a lab to do when trying to go green? Perhaps avoid the use of organic solvents with supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC). A few manufacturers are pushing the benefits of SFC for drug discovery. According to an R&D magazine editorial, it is the wave of the future.

Large amounts of metals are toxic to people, but what effects do trace amounts of metals have? The new Elemental Bio-Imaging Facility at University of Technology Sydney will investigate a new field of study called 'metallomics'. The facility will use a number of instruments including one that laser-ablates the sample before analysis.

Just how clean is your cleanroom? It's what you can't see that'll ruin your process. A trace-gas analyzer provides continuous accurate calibration-free analysis of gas phase airborne molecular contaminants in cleanroom ambient air. Tiger Optics' analyzer uses a patented continuous wave cavity ring-down spectroscopy system.

A Web site provides comprehensive and detailed information on near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy. It includes nine NIR applications, an Ask an Expert column, a technical publications library, and a variety of Webinar topics by the site sponsor. Thermo Fisher also provides extensive information about their NIR products at the site.

Online courses are a fast and cost-effective way to learn the basics of gas chromatography. The American Chemical Society's Continuing Education Department offers a number of online courses in September. First, learn basic gas chromatographic analysis, principles, and procedures online in seven Webcast sessions of one hour each, starting in September 26. Or choose the high performance liquid chromatographic class starting the same day.

The same organization that hands out the Ig Noble awards steps up their work with the advent of Improbable TV: three-minute-long videos about science, technology, and medical research that makes people laugh. But then these snippets make you think. The first several videos (with links to expand on the sections) are already on YouTube, and the organization threatens to make more available.

Where Has All the Money Gone?

NIH and NSF funding is down. What's your strategy for continuing to do science while weathering the recession? Is it larger projects or short-term, commercially promising work?