Agilent announced that UK Border Force is now using the company’s handheld Raman system, to detect bulk chemicals through opaque packages and containers. This system detects benign, hazardous, or illegal shipments.

Fruit-eating monkeys show a preference for concentrations of alcohol found in fermenting fruit, but do not seem to use alcohol as a source of supplementary calories, according to a study from Linköping University in Sweden and the Universidad Veracruzana in Mexico. The findings do not support the idea that human alcoholism originated from a predilection of primates for alcohol-containing overripe fruit.

Routine testing of laboratory balances by the user is essential to uncover malfunctions early and eliminate inaccuracies that would otherwise go undetected until your next service calibration. Download the new short guide from Mettler Toledo which explains the four pillars of balance routine testing: 1. Testing frequency, 2. Test methods and SOPs, 3. Test weight and 4. User training.

MIT engineers report that they have cooked up a material that is 10 times blacker than anything that has previously been described. The material is made from vertically aligned carbon nanotubes, or CNTs — microscopic filaments of carbon, like a fuzzy forest of tiny trees, that the team grew on a surface of chlorine-etched aluminum foil. The foil captures at least 99.995 % of any incoming light, making it the blackest material on record.

High-attrition rates during clinical development of new cancer therapies still persist. A new 3D ex vivo microfluidics platform shall now enhance cancer drug screening and early development process by creating cancer models which predict clinical outcomes with significantly increased reliability.

Food is both a basic need and a valuable asset. In Germany, food manufacturers must meet high requirements in terms of safety and product quality. Read about the important contribution microscopic techniques make in quality control and R&D.

The concept of the new agitated reactor by Ekato is intended for multiphase reactions with liquid, gases and solids.

A French-South African collaboration has develop the first reliable method for sex determination, including among children and cases where DNA is missing or too altered.

Corals are shown to recycle their own waste ammonium using a surprising source of glucose — a finding that reveals more about the relationship between corals and their symbiotic algae.

A study conducted by scientist of the Christian-Albrechts University in Kiel, proves the viability of recovering viral DNA from ancient samples, and shows the hepatitis B virus has been circulating in Europe for at least 7.000 years.