July 14th 2025
DOGE-related federal funding cuts have sharply reduced salaries, lab budgets, and graduate support in academia. Researchers view the politically driven shifts in priorities as part of recurring systemic issues in U.S. science funding during administrative transitions. The impact on Federal laboratories has varied, with some seeing immediate effects and others experiencing more gradual effects. In general, there is rising uncertainty over future appropriations. Sustainable recovery may require structural reforms, leaner administration, and stronger industry-academia collaboration. New commentary underscores similar challenges, noting scaled-back graduate admissions, spending freezes, and a pervasive sense of overwhelming stress among faculty, students, and staff. This article addresses these issues for the analytical chemistry community.
A Brief Review of the Latest Spectroscopic Research in Environmental Analysis
June 18th 2024Spectroscopic analytical techniques are crucial for the analysis of environmental samples. This review emphasizes the latest advancements in several key spectroscopic methods, including atomic, vibrational, molecular, electronic, and X-ray techniques. The applications of these analytical methods in detecting contaminants and other environmental applications are thoroughly discussed.
The 2024 Emerging Leader in Atomic Spectroscopy Award
January 1st 2024This year’s Emerging Leader in Atomic Spectroscopy Award recipient is Eduardo Bolea-Fernández. For the past decade, Bolea-Fernández’s research has focused on the development of a newly introduced technique, termed tandem ICP-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS/MS), for ultra-trace elemental and isotopic analysis. Senior technical editor Jerome Workman discusses Bolea-Fernández’s work here.
Advancements in Non-Invasive Analysis of Historical Metal Artifacts
December 19th 2023Studying historical ancient artifacts requires the use of a nondestructive technique to analyze the metal surfaces of these objects. This study presents two approaches that improves on existing methods when conducting alloy analysis.
Detecting and Combating Heavy Metal Lead Contamination in Wheat Seedlings Using LIBS-Raman
October 17th 2023In a recent study, collaborative spectroscopic methods, such as LIBS-Raman, were used for detecting and combatting heavy metal lead contamination in wheat seedlings, revealing critical insights for food security and human health.
Laser Technology Improves Detection of Heavy Metals in Recycled Plastics
August 16th 2023A recent study explains how laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) is better suited for rapidly quantifying heavy metals in plastics than traditional methods such as inductively couple plasma–mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS).
Studying Bismuth Atomic Lamps for Enhanced Atomic Fluorescence Spectrometry
June 21st 2023Researchers have compared two types of bismuth atomic lamps for atomic fluorescence spectrometry (AFS) and found that the electrodeless discharge lamp (EDL) exhibited significantly higher sensitivity and lower detection limits compared to the boosted discharge hollow cathode lamp (Superlamp).