Now that the human genome has been sorted, researchers are decoding proteins in living organisms, and how they interact. Some researchers use affinity-purification chromatography followed by mass spectrometry to uncover protein interactions in different cell types. A Nature article describes how they reveal new data.

In astronomy, spectroscopy shows the red- or blue-shift that indicates whether galaxies move toward or away from us. Used at the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope, integral field spectroscopy provided breakthroughs in our understanding of the universe. This New Scientist feature and animation explain.

Raman spectroscopy — routinely used by physicists and chemists — can also provide medical information. X-rays and ultrasound see minerals in bones easily, but have difficulty seeing collagen content, an important factor in diagnosing several diseases. Spatially Offset Raman spectroscopy detects both minerals and collagen in bones, and sees through skin.

Gold nanostars with magnetic cores offer better signal-to-noise ratio for biomedical imaging. The 100-nm-long star-shaped particles gyrate when exposed to rotating magnetic fields and scatter light to produce a twinkling effect. The twinkling helps researchers to ID them among a field of other (possibly brighter) particles.

Single-walled carbon nanotubes have potential for all sorts of nano-sized electronics. The challenge is in sorting them into groups of identical chirality. One method attaches DNA to nanotubes before running the hybrid molecules through a liquid chromatograph. Tubes with differing chiralities are separated by the method.

Combining an electron multiplying CCD camera, an imaging spectrograph, and a sheath flow cuvette, researchers can analyze individual metal nanoparticles at rates of 100 per second or faster. This overcomes a bottleneck, and may help nanoparticles find greater use as tags in biomolecular detection and cancer therapies.

Almost any science grad student can tell you that experimental results are what you gather in the brief periods between fixing the equipment. What if the problem isn't the equipment, but the experimental design? In this Physics World article, designer George Herold describes designing experiments to be gentler on the equipment.

Inertial confinement fusion could provide massive amounts of energy. Proving its feasibility requires looking at what happens during the 100 picoseconds when deuterium and tritium fuse into helium and emits energy. Listen to a podcast about life at the world's largest fusion facility and attempts to prove fusion's feasibility.

The Sixth Symposium on the Practical Applications of Mass Spectrometry in the Biotechnology Industries will be held September 15-18 in Philadelphia, PA. The meeting covers the application of mass spectrometry for product characterization, process monitoring, formulation development, and release testing in the pharmaceutical industry. Technical sessions will cover quantitation, selective ionization, in-source degradation, utility of SIM monitoring, and more. It will cover case studies and practical workshops.

Summertime, and the living is easy — especially with a beer in hand. And sometimes, instruments can show you an entirely different world. Microscopists sacrificed a bit of their favorite brews in order to take lovely microphotographs of beers and other beverages at Beershots. The images on the "Technical Details" page are my favorite way to enjoy Budweiser. In summer, 'chilled' is the only way to go.

The Argument for Analytical Instruments

Most people would choose food and shelter rather than a microscope. But the situation is more complex; can we convince those with funding that analytical instruments are a necessity?