Using the HARPS spectrograph attached to the 3.6-m ESO telescope at La Silla Chile, a team of Swiss, French, and Portuguese astronomers have discovered the most Earth-like exoplanet to date.

Waters Corporation (Milford, Massachusetts) and the University of Warwick, Coventry and Warwickshire, England, signed a collaborative research agreement intended to support the growth, development and adoption of novel mass spectrometry (MS) technologies.

Canadian researchers at the Bloorview Research Institute (Toronto, ON, Canada) and the University of Toronto have developed a way to use optical imaging to decode preference by measuring the intensity of near-infrared light absorbed in brain tissue.

INESC Porto?s Optoelectronics and Electronic System Unit (Porto, Portugal) in partnership with the European Space Agency, has developed a technology that enables a more effective measurement of gases in the atmosphere than that achieved with current techniques (such as atmospheric balloons and specially equipped airplanes).

Using a new mass spectrometry technique and stem cells that can be made to produce either neurons or glial cells, a team of researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies (La Jolla, California) identified a molecular signaling pathway that is required for the production of glial cells, yielding insight into the neurobiology of Down?s syndrome and several nervous system disorders characterized by too many glial cells.

Scientists in Germany combined mass spectrometry and other analytical instruments and sensory tools to identify six gamma-glutamyl peptides that appear to be responsible for the complex, long-lasting flavor of Gouda cheese.

For the first time, scientists from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (Livermore, California) have converted the highest frequency sound waves into electricity by reversing the process that converts electrical signals to sound.

Using a powerful new image-processing technique, researchers at the University of Toronto (Ontario, Canada) have identified an exoplanet in images taken in 1998 with the Hubble Space Telescope's Near-Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS).

Japan's Honda Research Institute and precision-equipment manufacturer Shimadzu recently demonstrated a technology that allows humans to control a robot through thought alone.

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed and issued for sale a new test material for calibrating quality control equipment used extensively by the polymer industry.

A2 Technologies (Danbury, Connecticut) has received a three-year research contract from the Federal Aviation Administration to study the effectiveness of Fourier transform?infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) for determining damage to composite materials used in civilian aircraft applications.

The Coblentz Society announced that Professor Takeshi Hasegawa of Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo, Japan) was selected as the recipient of the 2009 Craver Award in recognition of his creation of a novel spectroscopic technique for analyzing molecular orientation in a polymeric thin film deposited on a solid substrate, which can be carried out on a conventional FT-IR.

IB Laser, of Berlin, Germany, has selected RPMC Lasers, Inc. as the distributor for their full line of diode-pumped solid-state lasers.

HORIBA Scientific is the new global team created to focus on better meeting customers' present and future needs by integrating the scientific market expertise and resources of the HORIBA Group of companies.

A research team at Purdue University (West Lafayette, Indiana) has devised a method that pairs mass spectrometry with a low-temperature plasma ionization probe technique to detect low levels of melamine in milk and milk products.

Researchers from the Colleges of Sciences and Engineering at Georgia Tech (Atlanta, Georgia) have teamed up to create the Center for Bio-Imaging Mass Spectrometry (BIMS), which aims to unravel the molecular complexities of biological systems.

MDC Vacuum Products, LLC (Hayward, California) announced the appointment of Robert Malley as Chief Operations Officer effective November 17, 2008.

Chinese scientists have built the world's most powerful optical telescope in a research base of the National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC) near Beijing, expecting to unravel the mysteries of the universe.

The Colorado Photonics Industry Association (CPIA) announced that is has named ASD, Inc. (formerly Analytical Spectral Devices) of Boulder as the 2008 Colorado Photonics Company of the Year.

The New York Section of the Society for Applied Spectroscopy is currently soliciting nominations for its 2009 Gold Medal Award.

Paul A. Wilks, Jr., died Saturday, october 11, 2008, at Dartmouth?Hitchcock Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire, after a brief illness.

Emil Wolf has been named the winner of the 2008 Joseph W. Goodman Book Writing Award for his book Introduction to the Theory of Coherence and Polarization of Light.

Mostafa El-Sayed of the Georgia Institute of Technology was awarded the 2007 National Medal of Science for his work with nano-materials.

Inorganic Ventures has announced that the company is relocating its U.S. base of operations from Lakewood, New Jersey, to Christiansburg, Virginia.

Using principal component analysis, FOSS Analytical has shown that it is possible to use IR spectroscopy to analyze raw milk before it reaches supermarket shelves.

Researchers from New Mexico State University (Las Cruces, New Mexico) have replaced the standard rock identification tools of field geologists with laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS).

Researchers used proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy to highlight the differences in the levels and ratios of certain brain chemicals in the hippocampus of patients with fibromyalgia syndrome compared with a control group of healthy women.

EDAX, Inc. (Mahwah, New Jersey) has recently introduced several new items that reportedly will enhance productivity and efficiency in the spectroscopy laboratory.