Using X-rays to identify liquid chiral molecules

New method can for the first time distinguish their components in liquid form – and more effectively than ever before

Sugars, amino acids, drugs - chiral molecules are everywhere. Researchers in the AQUACHIRAL project at the Fritz-Haber-Institut have used X-rays to study hair-thin liquid jets of these molecules. Using a new method, they can now for the first time distinguish their components in liquid form – and ...

Improved detection methods for allergenic substances

BfR and LGL develop test systems

Experts deal with the development of analytical methods for the detection of allergenic substances in foods at a joint event of the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) and the Bavarian Health and Food Safety Authority (LGL) which ends today in Berlin. The labelling of allergens on food ...

Focused ion beam technology: a single tool for a wide range of applications

From physics, materials science and chemistry to life sciences and even archaeology

Processing materials on the nanoscale, producing prototypes for microelectronics or analysing biological samples: The range of applications for finely focused ion beams is huge. Experts from the EU collaboration FIT4NANO have now reviewed the many options and developed a roadmap for the future. ...

UK fingerprint “developer” can read a letter from its envelope

UK scientists have discovered a fingerprint “developer” which can highlight invisible prints on almost any surface – and read the text of a letter just from the envelope it was sent in. Paul Kelly and colleagues at Loughborough University found that a disulfur dinitride (S2N2) polymer turned ...

MDS Sciex Signs Distribution Agreement with D.I Biotech for Korean Market

MDS Sciex and D.I Biotech, a leading biotechnology instrumentation and supplies distribution company, announced the signing of a distributorship agreement to deliver the NanoLC system in Korea. "As a leading supplier to the prospering Korean biotechnology market place, we are very pleased to ...

Feeling the force between sand grains

For the first time, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers have measured how forces move through 3D granular materials, determining how this important class of materials might pack and behave in processes throughout nature and industry. Granular materials such as sand, soil and ...

Controlling ultrafast electrons in motion

An international team has used the light produced by the Free Electron Laser FERMI at the research Centre Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste in the AREA Science Park to control the ultrafast movement of electrons. The experiment opens the way to the study of more complex processes which occur in nature ...

Scientists design bomb-proof thermometer to measure the heat of explosions

The thermometer can take 50,000 measurements per second up to 3000 K (2727 °C).

Scientists at the UK's National Physical Laboratory (NPL) in Teddington have designed a high-speed thermometer that can measure the temperature inside explosions without being damaged in the impact. The shockwave, heat, soot and debris from an explosion can damage thermometers. Conventional ...

Halo should be new name for collider, says public

The one Ring to find them all

After massive, worldwide public response, with its media office deluged by thousands of entries, the RSC has chosen the winner of its competition to suggest a new, inspiring name for the Large Hadron Collider at CERN: Halo. Fed up with the contrived acronyms that plague the world of science, the ...

CTC trains mine detection dogs for the U.S. Army

"In a fenced area about the size of two football fields, the U.S. Army is training a four-legged response to the 'war on terror.' Labrador retrievers and German shepherds are learning to use their noses to sniff out explosive mines that would otherwise kill soldiers and destroy equipment in ...