No Slowdown in Scientific Innovation
In the midst of 2009's market upheaval and economic turbulence, one thing has remained consistent, and more to the point, consistently positive: the rapid advancement of mass spectrometry technology and techniques. While the overall spectroscopy market has been predicted by many to show continued decline and by many others to have a major rally by year's end, the debate over the science behind the marketplace has never been in doubt.
David Walsh
Rapid advancements in MS instrumentation, the development of novel techniques, and even quantum leaps in software and data handling have all marked a year of great progress for practitioners of mass spectrometry and its numerous and varied hyphenated techniques.
Even a cursory glance at this issue's table of contents illustrates that there has been no slowdown in scientific innovation. An updated and expanded glossary of MS terms and acronyms leads off the issue, and even though Spectroscopy columnist Ken Busch last published this invaluable resource only three years ago, there have been so many changes in terminology in the interim that he needed an additional four pages to include them all. In addition, you'll find articles covering all of the hottest techniques and application areas, with research on food safety, pesticide analysis, and metabolite identification in pharmaceutical research, as well as research involving MS-based techniques from ICP-MS to LC–MS-IT-TOF.
If there is a hot technique or application area in the field of mass spectrometry, chances are you will find it covered here or in a future issue in the Current Trends in Mass Spectrometry series. And as always, we value not only your feedback but your contributions as well. As this series has grown, the amount of unsolicited content from the scientific community has also grown by leaps and bounds, so feel free to contact us with not only your opinions but with your own research ideas as well.
We look forward to hearing from you soon — enjoy the issue.
David Walsh
Editor-in-Chief
How Satellite-Based Spectroscopy is Transforming Inland Water Quality Monitoring
Published: April 29th 2025 | Updated: April 29th 2025New research highlights how remote satellite sensing technologies are changing the way scientists monitor inland water quality, offering powerful tools for tracking pollutants, analyzing ecological health, and supporting environmental policies across the globe.
Chinese Researchers Develop Dual-Channel Probe for Biothiol Detection
April 28th 2025Researchers at Qiqihar Medical University have developed a dual-channel fluorescent probe, PYL-NBD, that enables highly sensitive, rapid, and selective detection of biothiols in food, pharmaceuticals, and living organisms.
The fNIRS Glossary Project: A Community-Sourced Glossary of Key Terms
April 28th 2025Established to develop a community-sourced glossary covering key functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) terms, including those related to the continuous-wave (CW), frequency-domain (FD), and time-domain (TD) NIRS techniques, the fNIRS Glossary Project features over 300 terms categorized into six key domains: analysis, experimental design, hardware, neuroscience, mathematics, and physics. It also includes abbreviations, symbols, synonyms, references, alternative definitions, and figures where relevant.