Knowledge about the particles in the air is important because of their effect on our health and their impact on our climate through cloud formation and transport of nutrients into the oceans. Ursula Fittschen describes “Strategies for ambient aerosols characterisation using synchrotron X-ray fluorescence: a review”. This technique can provide elemental determination and speciation of aerosol particulates with limits of detection in the pg m–3 range for many elements.

Read more: Strategies for ambient aerosols characterisation using synchrotron X-ray fluorescence: a review

Ronnie Gallagher tells us about “Atomic dielectric resonance”. This technique has many applications in analysis of features below the Earth’s surface, both exploration for water, oil, gas and minerals, as well as archaeological and architectural sites where its non-destructive nature is of great value. It also has been used to identify some Creutzfeldt–Jakob diseases in humans.

Read more: Atomic dielectric resonance

Another area of application of XRF, “Determination of elemental distribution or heterogeneity by X-ray fluorescence”, is considered by Christopher Shaffer and Didier Bonvin. The ability of modern X-ray spectrometers to perform small spot analysis as well as mapping has opened up new applications in non-homogeneous samples. The authors show applications in metals, precious alloys as well as rocks.

Read more: Determination of elemental distribution or heterogeneity by X-ray fluorescence

In the Tony Davies Column, Tony (A.N.) Davies and Mohan Cashyap introduce us to the potential for Cloud Computing in the lab. This is the first of a two-part contribution, and, for the second part, they need your help with your experiences of Cloud Computing in your lab or organisation.

Read more: A head in the Clouds?—Part One

John Hammond and Chris Burgess are also in the middle of a multi-part contribution to the Quality Matters column. “…that’s what I thought you said?” looks at further misundertandings in terminologies surrounding Reference Materials, and sets the record straight.

Read more: “…that’s what I thought you said?”

“Spectral database for postage stamps by means of FT-IR spectroscopy” by Eleonora Imperio, Gabriele Giancane and Ludovico Valli will be of great interest. As well as helping to detect forgeries, FT-IR has been used to create a database which also charts the history of the technology used to create stamps. Quite rightly, they are considered by many to be works of art.

Read more: Spectral database for postage stamps by means of FT-IR spectroscopy

Further applications of Raman in the biological world are discussed in “Raman spectroscopy for the study of biological organisms (biogenic materials and biological tissues): a valuable analytical tool” by Malvina Orkoula and Christos Kontoyannis. In this article, the applications are more medical and show how Raman spectroscopy can provide more information on parts of our bodies from kidney stones to osteoarthritic hips than the traditionally used techniques of FT-IR spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction.

Read more: Raman spectroscopy for the study of biological organisms (biogenic materials and biological tissues): a valuable analytical tool

“Emerging sampling approaches for Raman analysis of foods” by Nils Kristian Afseth, Matthew Bloomfield, Jens Petter Wold and Pavel Matousek describes how a number of instrumental developments are enabling Raman spectroscopy to find increasing applications in food analysis. They show how Spatially Offset Raman Spectroscopy (SORS) is being used to analyse quality parameters in salmon, including the content of fat, its fat composition and the content of carotenoids. Traditionally, the preserve of NIR spectroscopy, Raman may increasingly be used for the analysis of food and other biological matrices.

Read more: Emerging sampling approaches for Raman analysis of foods