Here is a video (RealVideo) of a 1995 lecture by Harry Kroto on the discovery of C60. The famous mass spectrum is at the 12 minute mark (via>via).
Mass Spectrometry IDs Fake Fur
It isn’t clear what test was performed, but this story about fake fur has been the biggest mass spectrometry item of the past week. One possibility is MALDI MS of keratin, as described in Identification and Quantification of Feathers, Down, and Hair of Avian and Mammalian Origin Using Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry by Klaus Hollemeyer, Wolfgang Altmeyer, and Elmar Heinzle, Anal. Chem.; 2002; 74 5960 (ht to Steve Down)
Stardust Mass Spectrometry
Organics Captured from Comet 81P/Wild 2 by the Stardust Spacecraft in the December 15 Science.
Mass Spec Meets YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=741O4KJ95Ng
Clickable CID Spectrum
The Bioanalytical Mass Spectrometry Facility at the University of New South Wales has a peptide collision induced dissociation simulator in which you use a mouse click to break peptide backbone bonds. There is also a sequencing tutorial with study questions.
Proteomics Podcast
The Wiley journal Proteomics has started a podcast. Unfortunately, it isn’t formatted for subscription and each audio file must be downloaded individually.
Update: There is now a URL for the podcast that can be used with iTunes or similar software: http://www.wiley-vch.de/vch/journals/2120/podcast/podcast.xml.
MS Biomarker Research to Top $745M
Kalorama Information, a division of MarketResearch.com, is predicting that mass spectrometry in research related to biomarker discovery will exceed $745 Million by the year 2010. The full report can be obtained online for about $3000.
Nier’s Mass Spectrograph
Several photos of the 1940 Nier Mass Spectrograph are online at the National Museum of American History. Alfred Nier built this instrument to separate 235U from 238U and test the prediction that the former undergoes fission (via).
Element 118 Discovered
A noble gas with 118 protons has been discovered (via).
Todd Wins Aston Medal
Prof. John F J Todd of the University of Kent was awarded the Aston Medal by the British Mass Spectrometry Society.
Who Needs Powerpoint
An excellent Google Video critique of “Determination of Methylmercury, Ethylmercury, and Inorganic Mercury in Mouse Tissues, Following Administration of Thimerosal, by Species-Specific Isotope Dilution GC-Inductively Coupled Plasma-MS ,” Qvarnstrom, Lambertsson, Havarinasab, Hultman, & Frech,
Anal. Chem. 2003; 75 4120 using pen, paper and video camera.
C&E News MS Cover Story
Chemical & Engineering News has a cover story on the International Mass Spectrometry Conference last month in Prague.
Wiley Journal Newsfeeds
Wiley InterScience journals now have RSS newsfeeds (marked-up example):
Journal of Mass Spectrometry: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/rss/journal/6043
Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/rss/journal/4849
Mass Spectrometry Reviews: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/rss/journal/49879
Carboxylic Acid Derivatives and Mass Spectrometry
UC Berkeley Professor Peter Vollhardt talks about Carboxylic Acid Derivatives and Mass Spectroscopy in, not one, but two lectures in his Webcast Lecture for Chem 3B – Chemical Structure and Reactivity in Spring 2006 (Real Media).
Peacock GCMS Viewer
Peacock 0.1.7 for Mac OS X is a view and edit program for GCMS files.
The Inner Life of the Cell
A video produced by XVivo for Harvard University’s Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology. (on StudioDaily and via).
mMass Program
mMass is an open source mass spectrum analysis program written in Python and released under the GNU General Public License. Source code and Windows and Mac binaries are available for download.
Autoflex III Mass Spectrometer
Bruker introduced a new version of the Autoflex at the IMSC in Prague. I first saw this instrument in Barcelona at the IMSC 2000 and it still reminds me of the drones in Silent Running.
Mass Spectrometry Terms Final Draft
The third and final draft (PDF) of the Standard Definitions of Terms Relating To Mass Spectrometry document is up on the MS Terms website. This draft is currently undergoing peer review and will be the last draft before publication. It will also be presented as a poster (PDF) next week in Prague at the International Mass Spectrometry Conference.
Mass Spectrometry and Air Security
An article in the Independent suggests that mass spectrometric detection will be central to future airport security.