GCMS and the Smell of Old Books

The newest -omics: Digging Into the Science of That Old-Book Smell in the New York Times and Material Degradomics: On the Smell of Old Books in Analytical Chemistry.

PerkinElmer Acquires Analytica

PerkinElmer has acquired the electrospray ionization and mass spectrometry technology company Analytica of Branford.

MIT Mandates Open Access to Research Publications

The MIT faculty has a adopted a policy that mandates open access to their scholarly publications. This follows similar moves by Harvard and Stanford (via).

MALDI of a Copper Age Mummy

MALDI TOF mass spectrometry has been used to identify the clothing of Ötzi the Iceman (in RCM; hat tip to MW).

Mass Spectrometer Confirms Mars Water

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander thermal and evolved-gas analyzer ( TEGA) has identified water in a mars soil sample.

FBI's New Technology Revolutionizes DNA Analysis

From National Public Radio's Morning Edition, January 28, 2008:

"The newest wrinkle [in forensic DNA analysis] involves a rather innocuous-looking machine called a mass spectrometer, which is, in essence, a glorified scale that weighs individual molecules."

(audio and transcript)

Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry and the Tour de France

Italian Christian Moreni tested positive for synthetic testosterone with the isotope ratio mass spectrometry procedure.

Really Old Peanuts

Preceramic Adoption of Peanut, Squash, and Cotton in Northern Peru - agriculture, archaeology, and accelerator mass spectrometry.

T-rex Protein Shows Link to Birds

Analyses of Soft Tissue from Tyrannosaurus rex Suggest the Presence of Protein and
Protein Sequences from Mastodon and Tyrannosaurus Rex Revealed by Mass Spectrometry
(via).

LCMS Finds Cocaine on Euros

This Analyst article on LCMS for the determination of drug contamination on Irish euro banknotes by Jonathan Bones, Mirek Macka and Brett Paull at the Dublin City University National Center for Sensor Research has been getting quite a bit of press. Trace cocaine was found on all 45 bank notes tested. This is perhaps not surprising, given the ease with which the powder is spread by ATMs and counting machines. Nonetheless, the authors report a significant sensitivity improvement in the LCMS method compared to previous GCMS studies.

Element 118 Discovered

A noble gas with 118 protons has been discovered (via).

C&E News MS Cover Story

Chemical & Engineering News has a cover story on the International Mass Spectrometry Conference last month in Prague.

Mass Spectrometry and Air Security

An article in the Independent suggests that mass spectrometric detection will be central to future airport security.

Calutron Operator's Story

The Calutron operator in the right foreground of the famous photograph tells her story.

IRMS Used in Tour de France Case

Isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) is figuring prominently in the Floyd Landis, winner of the Tour de France. Here's an article on Testosterone and Doping Control and another on Detection of Epitestosterone Doping by Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry that have some details on the tests.

GCMS of Absinthe

From Friday's Times-Picayune (and earlier in the New Yorker (PDF) and Wired News): reverse engineering the liqueur absinthe using GCMS.