Microspectroscopy, the marriage of spectroscopic chemical identification with microscopic spatial resolution, has advanced from Perkin-Elmer's first commercial infrared microspectrometer in 1953 to today's nanoscale AFM-IR probes, synchrotron-brightness infrared beamlines, and compact hyperspectral tissue imaging devices being developed for AI-assisted cancer detection.

Top articles include the publication of a new terminology guide focused on data processing, machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI), and chemometrics.

Mammograms can find breast microcalcifications but can’t tell whether they are likely benign or malignant.

In a SciX interview, Marc Porter covered a lot of ground, from a student-driven pivot into immunoassays to a baseball analogy for Stokes and anti-Stokes scattering, and shares the open questions he is still chasing.

Marc Porter describes how his group’s surface science work led to SERS-based immunoassays, why reproducibility and pre-analytics decide whether a test reaches the clinic, and the questions he still wants to answer.

Top articles include an examination of the current trends propelling atomic spectroscopy forward and post-conference coverage of the 2026 SciX show in Sparks, Nevada.

In this Q&A, we recap the October edition of “What’s Nu,” which covered topics such as how novel spectroscopic and analytical methods are transforming environmental monitoring, medical treatment, and accessibility in scientific research.

In this Q&A article, we highlight several prominent researchers being recognized at the 2026 SciX Conference for their significant contributions to spectroscopy and photonics and discuss what these researchers talked about at the conference.