Will Wetzel

The detection of life on other planets is a research area of focus for scientists in space exploration. In this Q&A, Andreas Riedo of the Physics Institute at the University of Bern offers his thoughts on how spectroscopy is being used to detect organic molecules that are relevant for life.

On July 20th, 1969, American astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin made history by becoming the first humans to land on the moon. Today, 54 years later, Spectroscopy magazine highlights how spectroscopy is playing a role in advancing space exploration.

The study of exoplanets, or planets outside of our solar system, is becoming increasingly important in space exploration. Scientists are working to characterize these planets and Raman spectroscopy is playing a key role. Andrew Mattioda, a research scientist at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Ames Research Center, is on the front lines of this research.

Spectroscopy magazine is pleased to announce the launch of a new one-day content series titled, “Spectroscopy and Space Exploration,” which will take place this Thursday, July 20th, 2023.

Spectroscopists offer their views on their salaries and the current job market, weighing in on topics such as job security, economic recession, and skill sets of new workers.

Professor Martin Zanni, the Meloche-Bascom Professor of Chemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and his colleagues explored how to resolve diagonal peaks using a polarization scheme that can be implemented in pump-probe beam geometry—not only in two-dimensional infrared (2D-IR) spectroscopy but also in TA spectroscopy. Zanni is the 2022 recipient of the Ellis R. Lippincott Award. This interview is part of an ongoing series of interviews with the winners of awards that are presented at the annual SciX conference, which will be held this year from October 2 through October 7, in the Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky area.

Mohamed Abdel-Harith of Cairo University and his team explored using BRELIBS for the elemental analysis of the synagogue’s glass shards. Their findings reveal the potential of BRELIBS in conducting elemental analysis on transparent materials. Spectroscopy recently spoke to Abdel-Harith about this work.

Meat fraud has emerged as a growing concern globally. The adulteration, substitution, or mislabeling of meat products has resulted in negative economic effects, such as unfair competition in the global marketplace, as well as ethical concerns, because consumers want to know what is in the meat they are consuming. Ismail H. Boyaci of Hacettepe University and his team have explored using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) for protein-based analysis and the identification of meat species. Spectroscopy recently spoke to Boyaci about this work.

What can spectroscopic techniques, such as portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (PXRF), reveal about the sarsen megaliths of Stonehenge and where they originated?

Zac Schultz of The Ohio State University and his team used tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (TERS) and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) with gold nanostars to investigate chemical reactions involved in protein–ligand binding. He recently spoke with Spectroscopy about his findings.

Professor Rohit Bhargava and his team at the University of Illinois, where they have established the Cancer Center at Illinois, are advancing research in tumor microenvironments, using techniques such as high-definition Fourier transform infrared (HD-FT-IR) coupled with machine learning. We recently spoke to Bhargava about this work.