R&D Editors

This year’s iteration of the esteemed R&D 100 Awards features a judging panel comprised of professionals from across the globe, who boast an impressive collection of accomplishments and honors. Finalists in this year’s 64th R&D 100 Awards will be announced at rdworldonline.com. Winners of this year’s R&D 100 Awards, along with the medalists in the…

Solid-state batteries have clear advantages, replacing the flammable liquid electrolytes in traditional lithium-ion cells. Manufacturing them remains difficult, given the challenges inherent in solid-to-solid contact during continuous charge and discharge cycles. A central challenge in a solid-state battery is dealing with the boundary between a lithium-metal anode and solid electrolyte. That region will be the…

WTWH Media, the parent company of R&D World, has announced that it has renamed itself Arrowfly. The change applies to the corporate entity. R&D World keeps its name, its URL, its newsletters, its editorial staff and its archives. The Cleveland-based company operates more than 40 B2B media brands and more than 45 industry events across…

The 11th BioPharma Supply Chain & Logistics Nexus runs Nov. 11-12, 2026, at the Crowne Plaza San Diego Mission Valley in California. The invitation-only event covers pharma and life-sciences supply chain operations, with sessions on cold chain logistics, temperature-controlled distribution, warehousing, inventory and procurement, alongside regulatory and sustainability topics. The format centers on executive presentations,…

The specialty materials maker Elkem Silicones has rebranded as Bluestar Silicones, reviving a name the business used from 2007 to 2017. The change follows the April 30 close of Bluestar’s acquisition of the majority of Elkem’s silicones division. The company says manufacturing sites, production processes, raw materials, product names and commercial trademarks all stay the same,…

Waters Corp. (NYSE: WAT) has launched a differential scanning calorimeter built to test fully assembled coin cells, eliminating the cell teardown step that has long made DSC-based battery safety work slow and destructive. The Waters TA Instruments Coin Cell Differential Scanning Calorimeter (DSC) scans fully assembled coin cells from -80 °C to 600 °C while…

Still interested in entering the 2026 R&D 100 Awards this year? The final deadline to submit nominations for the 2026 R&D 100 Awards is 11:59 p.m. Friday, June 5, 2026, Eastern (New York City) time. Entries submitted by the final deadline carry a submission fee of $595. The R&D 100 Awards recognize new commercial products,…

Beckman Coulter Life Sciences has announced the commercial release of the Echo 650 Plus Series acoustic liquid handlers. The launch brings redesigned electronics, a new transducer architecture, and a 54% reduction in power consumption compared to legacy Echo instruments. According to Beckman Coulter, the core is a next-generation transducer equipped with a durable titanium lens.…

Designing irregular structures often means wrestling with huge systems of equations. Princeton engineers have found a shortcut, using a mathematical bridge between origami and tensegrity to preserve known mechanical properties as a structure shifts into a more complex shape. Tensegrity is a structural principle where a continuous network of tension (cables or strings) and a…

Vacuum technology keeps running into sustainability challenges. First there was a helium shortage. Then another. And another. In addition, the industry has been moving away from oil-sealed pumps and towards more sustainable methods.  Helium shortages affect lab equipment Helium shortages aren’t exactly new. The gas has been through four supply crunches since 2006, each driven…

Shimadzu Scientific Instruments has introduced the Nexera X4, a new ultra-high-performance liquid chromatograph aimed labs that need faster separations without sacrificing sensitivity or using excess solvent. The system, positioned for work in pharmaceuticals, food, environmental science and chemistry, builds on its Nexera platform with a low-dispersion design meant to sharpen peaks, improve separation performance and…

High-entropy alloys have long looked promising as catalysts because combining five or more metals can create unusually rich reactive surfaces. But researchers have struggled to control the nanoscale surface structures that shape how those particles perform. Now, a Northwestern team reports a three-step synthesis that controls both composition and surface facets in HEA nanoparticles. Applied…

MXenes, a family of two-dimensional transition metal carbides and nitrides, have drawn interest for applications including EMI shielding, energy storage, electrocatalysis and high-speed optoelectronics. But a persistent surface chemistry problem has limited their performance. Standard synthesis routes typically leave MXene surfaces with a disordered mix of oxygen, hydroxyl and fluorine terminations, which can trap and…

The pharmaceutical industry operates in a universe where the inverse of Moore’s Law holds true. In a seminal 2012 paper, investment analyst and researcher Jack Scannell coined the term “Eroom’s Law” to explain the reality that drug development tends to get dramatically more expensive over long stretches of time. While Eroom’s Law is not usually…

Shimadzu Scientific Instruments has introduced the Nexis GC-2060 gas chromatograph for R&D and quality control analyses in energy, chemicals, food, environmental testing and pharmaceutical applications. Marking the 70th anniversary of Shimadzu’s development of Japan’s first gas chromatograph, the new flagship GC-2060 adds upgraded Flame Ionization Detector (FID) and Thermal Conductivity Detector (TCD) detectors, a five-mode…

SOTAX used Analytica 2026 to demo JetX, an automated sample-preparation platform aimed at pharma QC labs still running content uniformity and assay tests with volumetric flasks. The system’s patented extraction technology subjects tablets, capsules, or semi-solids to a continuous jet of media inside a cell at flow rates up to 1,000 mL/min, then routes the…

Sigma Laborzentrifugen brought the 3-17KT refrigerated benchtop centrifuge to Analytica 2026, targeting labs that need sub-ambient spinning in a compact footprint. The unit pairs precision-controlled cooling across a −20 to +40 °C range with a “Rapid Temp” pre-cool function that lets users bring the chamber and rotor to setpoint before loading samples. At 46 cm wide…

Köttermann GmbH used Analytica 2026 to debut VarioProtect, a hazardous-substance safety cabinet designed to store flammable, corrosive and toxic chemicals in a single enclosure. Conventional lab setups typically require separate cabinets for each hazard class; VarioProtect consolidates all three, positioned directly at the workstation for ergonomic access. The company says the combined-storage approach can replace…

Shimadzu Scientific Instruments Inc. (SSI) has opened a new research and development facility in South San Francisco, California, the company announced March 30. The lab will focus on developing analytical instruments, software, applications, and lab automation for pharmaceutical and life science customers in North America. It will focus chiefly on three core areas: analytical methods…

Köttermann used Analytica 2026 in Munich to present the VarioProtect, a hazardous-substance safety cabinet designed to store flammable, corrosive, and toxic chemicals together in a single unit. Certified to DIN EN 14470-1 Type 90, the highest fire resistance class, VarioProtect provides at least 90 minutes of protection in the event of fire. It also carries…

Analytica 2026, Munich — Mettler Toledo showed the Rainin Vero electronic pipettes at Analytica 2026. Available in 1, 8, or 12 channels across multiple volume ranges. Rainin Vero — Key Specs Channels 1, 8, or 12 Single-channel ranges 0.5–10, 2–20, 10–100, 20–200, 20–300, 100–1000 µL 8-channel ranges 0.5–10, 2–20, 5–50, 20–200, 20–300, 100–1200 µL Launch…

Waters is using analytica 2026 [booth number (A1.328)] to show off Xevo CDMS, an instrumentation platform for charge-detection mass spectrometry aimed at samples that can be difficult to characterize with conventional MS workflows. The platform was also showcased at Pittcon in San Antonio. Waters positions the system  for direct mass measurement of very large and…

Legionella culture, the internationally accepted reference method for detecting the bacteria behind Legionnaires’ disease in water systems, still relies on laboratories preparing their own selective media or sourcing it from multiple suppliers. The workflow is well-standardized (ISO 11731 defines it), but the media preparation step remains a source of variability and lab time that ready-to-use…

Velp Scientifica, better known for Kjeldahl digestion and solvent extraction than for elemental analyzers, is arriving at Analytica 2026 with three new products and a signal that the company is moving up the analytical workflow. The centerpiece is the EMA 402XL, a world-premiere CHNS macro elemental analyzer that swaps tin foil capsules for reusable ceramic…

Inside the chiplet architecture reshaping semiconductors The semiconductor industry’s long-running model of improving performance by shrinking transistors is running into physical and economic limits. In response, chipmakers are shifting toward new architectures that break systems into smaller components, connect them in advanced packages, and rethink how memory works alongside compute. This report explores the three…