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.

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).

RNA Biology to Require Wikipedia Publication

Starting in 2009, the journal RNA Biology will require that authors submitting to their RNA Families section also submit a Wikipedia page summarizing the work. Both will be peer reviewed. For example, Jones, et al. RNA Biology 6, 1-4 (2009) has a corresponding Wikipedia page SmY RNA (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)

Academic Interviews

Excellent and refreshingly candid advice on academic job interviews (via).

MALDI Sample Preparation: The Ultra Thin Layer Method

A video tutorial article in the Journal of Visualized Experiments on MALDI sample preparation from Brian Chait's Mass Spectrometry Group at Rockefeller University. JoVE is an online biological sciences video journal.

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.

Mass Spectrometry IDs Fake Fur

It isn't clear what test was performed, but this story about fake fur has been the biggest mass spectrometry item of the past week. One possibility is MALDI MS of keratin, as described in Identification and Quantification of Feathers, Down, and Hair of Avian and Mammalian Origin Using Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry by Klaus Hollemeyer, Wolfgang Altmeyer, and Elmar Heinzle, Anal. Chem.; 2002; 74 5960 (ht to Steve Down)

Stardust Mass Spectrometry

Organics Captured from Comet 81P/Wild 2 by the Stardust Spacecraft in the December 15 Science.

Scanning Probe Electrospray

Georgia Tech researchers have placed an electrospray source in an AFM tip (via).

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.