Spectroscopy can cover a range of wavelengths, and this article focuses on the ultraviolet (UV) and visible (Vis) spectra, with a bit of near-infrared (NIR) too. These ranges allow for many applications as well as a variety of technologies.

Scientists developed vacuum pumps—and their cousins—centuries ago. Until relatively recently, though, the instruments didn’t include many controls.

Method transfer between HPLC and UHPLC has been a standard complaint against high-pressure, sub-two-micron technology. Despite the accumulation of application notes from UHPLC vendors, end users continue to cite method transfer difficulties for not switching to UHPLC.

Although the electronic laboratory notebook (ELN) market is mature, it has undergone several cycles during the past three decades. This existential back-and-forth has centered on whether ELNs should primarily serve as direct replacements for paper notebooks or something more.

Nearly every lab or production facility of any sort needs an oven. Moreover, those ovens get used in a wide range of ways. As Uwe Ross, president at Binder in Great River, New York, says, “Oven applications range from prep work to curing to treating to testing.” He adds, “We really find lab ovens in applications from biotech and pharma to heavy-duty material testing.”

At United Technologies Research Center in East Hartford, Connecticut, staff research engineer Weina Li and her colleagues developed a vanadium flow battery. “It provides ten times higher power density than previous cells,” says Li.

The frequency of measuring might be one of the biggest trends in pH meters. “It used to be an occasional measurement, but now it’s every sample in some cases,” says George Porter, titration product manager at Metrohm (Riverview, FL).

Today’s centrifuges are more sophisticated than ever. Consequently, customers can find platforms that fit right into today’s wide range of centrifuge applications. In fact, Nick Horsley, general manager at Hettich Instruments in Beverly, Massachusetts, says, “Centrifuge accessories have become very important.” Those accessories can help a lab select a system that can multitask.

As leading instrument and column makers continue to innovate, legacy methods, particularly in highly regulated pharmaceutical and environmental industries, continue to nudge the state of the art toward greater robustness and familiarity and away from the cutting edge.