Heather Hall

Thermo Fisher Scientific has released the Thermo Scientific Helios 5 Plasma Focused Ion Beam (PFIB) DualBeam and the Thermo Scientific Helios 5 Hydra DualBeam focused ion beam scanning electron microscopes (FIB-SEMs). Built for a wide range of uses, from metals and battery characterization to structural biology, these instruments are well-suited for labs that conduct both materials…

By Alison Caldwell PhD The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is shining a bright spotlight on vaccine development. As numerous vaccines race through clinical trials, physicians and researchers continue to work on developing new vaccine technologies to generate the most effective vaccines with the fewest side effects. A new proof-of-concept study by researchers at the University of…

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced $40M in funding over five years for a new research center aimed at developing hybrid photoelectrodes for converting sunlight into liquid fuels. Chemists from DOE’s Brookhaven National Laboratory will be key partners in this effort, dubbed the Center for Hybrid Approaches in Solar Energy to Liquid Fuels…

Pfeiffer Vacuum introduces the OmniStar and ThermoStar GSD 350 compact, portable benchtop analyzers for analyzing gases at atmospheric pressure. They are particularly used in chemical processes, semiconductor, metallurgy, fermentation, catalysis, freeze-drying and environmental analysis applications. The gas inlet is fitted with a heated capillary for use at up to 350° C. This prevents vapors from…

By Theresa Duque In the fight against climate change, scientists have searched for ways to replace fossil fuels with carbon-free alternatives such as hydrogen fuel. A device known as a photoelectrical chemical cell (PEC) has the potential to produce hydrogen fuel through artificial photosynthesis, an emerging renewable energy technology that uses energy from sunlight to…

Thermo Fisher Scientific today unveiled its next-generation Thermo Scientific Apreo 2 Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), a high-performance field emission SEM that takes automation to the next level, offering easy-to-obtain nanometer-scale information at a range of working distances and operating conditions. The Apreo 2 was designed to help investigators, SEM operators and lab managers deliver expert…

Atomic absorption spectrophotometry analyzes the concentration of elements in a liquid sample based on energy absorbed from certain wavelengths of light (usually 190 to 900 nm). Atomic absorption spectrophotometers typically include a flame burner to atomize the sample (most commonly a hollow cathode lamp), a monochromator and a photon detector. Depending on the model, some…

Validating the safety features of its patented lithium-ion (Li-ion) technology, Cadenza Innovation today announced that  verifies that the company’s supercell battery architecture stops propagation when thermal runaway is induced inside the battery itself. By doing so, Cadenza’s technology solves a global industry safety issue seen in multiple battery fires and explosions in Arizona, South Korea…

By Manette Fisher  A media comprised of a sandwich of materials, tested by Sandia National Laboratories, is being manufactured into N95-like respirators that could be used in local medical facilities. The project originated from the urgent need for personal protective equipment when the COVID-19 outbreak began. “I can almost assure you that no one else…

Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers have developed a machine learning model that could help predict the impact pandemics such as COVID-19 have on fuel demand in the United States. Called the Pandemic Oil Demand Analysis, or PODA, this model compared mobility patterns before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, analyzing historical weekly motor travel trends and…

Thermo Fisher Scientific has expanded deployment model options for SampleManager LIMS software, offering laboratories end-to-end support of the software deployment in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Cloud. Under a contract agreement, Thermo Fisher will manage the entire deployment process from installation and maintenance to backup and recovery. As a result, laboratories will benefit from significantly…

JEOL expands its FE SEM product group with the introduction of a compact Field Emission SEM that offers ultrahigh resolution and versatile analytical capabilities at a great value. The new JSM-IT700HR InTouchScope FE SEM is equipped with a large specimen chamber and both High and Low Vacuum modes for managing a wide variety of specimen…

By Chris Adam Purdue University innovators are working on inventions to use micro-chip technology in implantable devices and other wearable products such as smart watches to improve biomedical devices, including those used to monitor people with glaucoma and heart disease. The Purdue team developed a fully implantable radio-frequency transmitter chip for wireless sensor nodes and…

By Johnathon Briggs Scientists at Argonne National Laboratory have made progress toward a higher-capacity lithium-ion battery to meet rising consumer demand. With the growing number of electric vehicles on the road and an increasing reliance on consumer electronics, demand has never been greater for development of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) that can sustain a higher energy…

CCS (Controlled Containment System Enclosures) are engineered to safely contain and control airborne particulate to and from sampling procedures. Dispensing from drums and weighing procedures are typical applications. Drums or equipment can be easily rolled into the enclosure through the strip curtain entrance. Both the process and surrounding environment are protected from contamination. A downward…

by Iowa State University There would be no tents set up in parking lots. No long lines of cars. No medical staff in full protective gear. No waiting for results. Instead, you’d take your own COVID-19 diagnostic test at home with a $1 (or so) kit. You’d take your own nasal and cough samples. You’d…

by Theresa Duque (Adapted from news release by Robert Perkins, Caltech) The quest for renewable fuels harvested from the sun continues, as the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced two new major awards focused on advancing artificial photosynthesis technologies for the production of fuels from sunlight. As part of this effort, DOE has awarded…

A team of scientists at the University of Southampton have established significant results in the elimination of Covid-19 within minutes, on a copper-based alloy, demonstrating its ability to reduce coronavirus transmission rates, via commonly touched surfaces, manufactured with this metal. Working with Sylatech, an engineering business in North Yorkshire, U.K., Professor Bill Keevil, Dr. SandraWilks…

By Lee Teschler Engineers trying to shield RF-sensitive circuitry a few years from now may have the option of using material that absorbs RF energy rather than just reflecting it. So say researchers at Drexel University and the Korea Institute of Science and Technology. They are researching a class of material called MXenes, and more…

By Lee Teschler If you’ve used an ink-jet printer or a tiny hearing aid, chances are those devices have employed lead-zirconium-titanium oxide (PZT, Pb(Zr,Ti)O3) piezoelectric ceramics as a means of generating ink droplets and amplified audio. These and numerous other applications have long used actuators and sensors employing piezoelectric materials which deform in response to…

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory, in conjunction with industry partner Sentient Science, are making the discovery and design of new materials — a notoriously time-consuming and costly process — significantly easier through the development of an artificial intelligence-based computer modeling framework. The research was awarded $150,000 through the DOE’s…

On July  29, 2020 the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory opened a new cryo-electron microscopy center, the Laboratory for BioMolecular Structure (LBMS), with an initial focus on COVID-19-related research. This state-of-the-art research center for life sciences imaging offers researchers access to advanced cryo-electron microscopes (cryo-EM) — funded by NY State — for…

By Sara S Shoemaker Analyses of lung fluid cells from COVID-19 patients conducted on the nation’s fastest supercomputer point to gene expression patterns that may explain the runaway symptoms produced by the body’s response to SARS-CoV-2. A team led by Dan Jacobson of the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory used the Summit supercomputer…

Researchers from Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) and The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) are working to develop unobtrusive diagnostics for hypersonic flight testing. The project led by Dr. Nicholas J. Mueschke of SwRI’s Mechanical Engineering Division and Dr. Christopher Combs of UTSA’s College of Engineering is supported by a $125,000 grant from the…

When the Shewanella oneidensis bacterium “breathes” in certain metal and sulfur compounds anaerobically, the way an aerobic organism would process oxygen, it produces materials that could be used to enhance electronics, electrochemical energy storage and drug-delivery devices. The ability of this bacterium to produce molybdenum disulfide — a material that is able to transfer electrons…