The Domestic Nuclear Detection Office in the Department of Homeland Security launched the National Nuclear Forensic Expertise Development Program (NNFEDP) in 2008. The NNFEDP is an interagency effort committed to developing and maintaining a robust academic and technical pipeline to strengthen the nuclear forensics workforce.

Spectroscopy magazine is pleased to announce the addition of Micky Myrick, PhD, to its editorial advisory board.

Researchers at the National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS) at Brookhaven National Laboratory (Upton, New York) used an advanced x-ray detector developed at NSLS to find compelling evidence that an unknown Rembrandt painting, titled ?Old Man with a Beard,? was an authentic work done by the Dutch master.

Physicists in Italy have developed a new method, based on infrared laser spectroscopy, to carbon-date old samples that can be performed using portable and low-cost equipment. According to the researchers, their new idea could have other applications in biomedical procedures, environmental monitoring, fundamental physics, and explosives detection.

A new class of x-ray photoelectron spectroscopic microscope has been developed at the U.S. Department of Energy?s Brookhaven National Laboratory (Upton, New York) and will be used for advanced research on a wide range of technologically important materials systems.

J. Sabine Becker, the head of trace and ultratrace Analysis in the Central Division of Analytical Chemistry at the Research Center Juelich, in Juelich, Germany, has won the 2012 Winter Conference Award in Plasma Spectrochemistry, sponsored by Thermo Fisher Scientific (San Jose, California).

Edinburgh Instruments (Livingston, UK), is celebrating its 40th anniversary with a restructuring of the company to focus on its new Edinburgh Photonics and Edinburgh Sensors divisions.

PIKE Technologies (Madison, Wisconsin) debuted a new company website, www.piketech.com, in October.

Waters recently welcomed Assistant Professor Ganesh Anand's laboratory at the National University of Singapore (NUS, Queenstown, Singapore) into its Centers of Innovation Program, making the center the first of its kind in Asia.

The Federation of Analytical Chemistry and Spectroscopy Societies (FACSS, Santa Fe, New Mexico) has changed the name of its 38-year-old annual conference from the eponymous FACSS to SCIX, with the tagline "The Great Scientific Exchange."

Waters Corporation (Milford, Massachusetts) recently welcomed the University of Minnesota?s (Minneapolis, Minnesota) Mass Spectrometry Laboratory into its Centers of Innovation Program. Waters honored the Mass Spectrometry Laboratory under the direction of Joseph Dalluge for his research in diagnostic marker assay development relevant to cystic fibrosis and other diseases.

In recognition of research focused on the detection of counterfeit and adulterated medicines and improved dissolution techniques, the United States Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) (Rockville, MD), has awarded $150,000 in research funds under its 2011-2012 Fellowship program.

Scientists at Kinexus Bioinformatics Corporation (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada), in collaboration with researchers at the Centre for High Throughput Biology at the University of British Columbia (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada), investigated the host signaling pathways that are affected by Salmonella enterica, a food-borne bacteria that is a leading cause of food poisoning in North America and around the world.

EMD Millipore (Billerica, Massachusetts), a division of Merck KGaA of Darmstadt, Germany, has launched a new program for users of laboratory water filtration systems to recycle the filters? plastic housings.

With a recently awarded grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (Washington DC), The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) will be promoting awareness of careers in the sciences, especially environmental chemistry, among students from kindergarten through every level of higher education.

Using data from its research solution, Web of Knowledge, to quantitatively determine the most influential researchers in Nobel categories, Thomson Reuters (New York, NY) has released its picks for its 2011 Thomson Reuters Citation Laureates in Chemistry?researchers likely to be in contention for Nobel honors.

A professor of biomedical materials engineering science at the Inamori School of Engineering at Alfred University (Alfred, NY), has done research showing that the risk of bone loss associated with osteoporosis can be predicted using a patient?s toenail clipping and Raman spectroscopy.

PANalytical (Eindhoven, The Netherlands), a supplier of analytical X-ray instrumentation, services, and software, has relocated its X-ray tube manufacturing to a new factory in Eindhoven, The Netherlands.

A new mass spectrometry method will allow museum scientists to date ancient silks from samples that are far smaller than what is consumed during carbon-14 dating, the only other method that can date silk.

The International Centre for Diffraction Data (ICDD), Newtown Square, PA, has established the Ludo Frevel Crystallography Scholarship Fund.

The Human Proteome Organization (HUPO) 2011 World Congress, Geneva, Switzerland, recently recognized the work of four scientists for their contributions to advancement in proteomics.

SFW Capital Partners, of Rye, New York, a private equity firm that invests in mid-sized companies providing analytical tools and related services, has purchased Spectro, Inc., of Littleton, Massachusetts, a provider of spectrometers and software for machine condition monitoring and preventative maintenance.

Visitors from 80 countries gathered in Munich, Germany, on May 23-26 to attend the Laser World of Photonics conference. Because optical technologies are considered emerging technologies, the event focused on "Lasers and Laser Systems for Production Engineering," "Green Photonics," and "Biophotonics and Life Sciences."

Chemistry?s periodic table has two new man-made elements. Atomic numbers 114 and 116, for now unnamed elements, have been recognized by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC), which credited a Russia-U.S. collaboration with their discovery.

Lawyers for Casey Anthony, the Florida mother accused of murdering her two-year-old daughter, Caylee in 2008, say the smell of death coming from her car days after the disappearance of her daughter was the result of a garbage bag that had been left in the trunk. A scientist used an untested forensics technique to tell a different story: that smell was the lingering odor of human decomposition.

A paper published by a joint Icelandic and Danish team in the journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (April 25, 2011), provides evidence that a move to ground European aircraft was justified after an April 14, 2010, volcanic event allowed meltwaters from the Eyjafjallaökull glacier to mix with hot magma from the volcanic site, sending fine ash into the jet stream.

A new diagnostic device based on Raman spectroscopy could assist physicians with the early detection of skin cancers.

New research conducted using mass spectrometers has provided insight into key areas of stroke evaluation and treatment.