Known as “forever chemicals,” per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are some of the most pervasive pollutants in the environment. A class of synthetic organic chemicals first introduced into products in the 1940s and used widely for their exceptional repelling properties, they are linked by a hard-to-break carbon-fluorine bond. In the intervening decades, PFAS have seeped into waterways, soil, and people’s and animals’ bodies.
The United States economy has weathered a bumpy ride over the last year, and the analytical instrument industry has, too. While demand for workers was high and unemployment dipped low in the US through 2022 and into 2023, inflation remains stuck at its highest rates in decades, and consumers’ wallets are feeling the burn.
Demand for carbon capture, the trapping and storing of carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted by industrial processes, is expected to increase in the coming years as global climate agreements and individual countries’ climate goals come into effect. Broadly, there are three methods of carbon capture: post-combustion capture, in which CO2 is separated from exhaust; pre-combustion capture, which gasifies solid fuel and removes CO2, and oxy-fuel combustion, wherein fuel is burned in a mixture of pure oxygen and CO2 is captured from resulting exhaust gas. Once CO2 is captured, it is transported and stored, typically in geological formations deep underground, or is utilized in a number of emerging applications.
In a typical laboratory, most machines and tools are siloed, detached, and unable to communicate with each other. Other industries have adopted a class of software systems known as “integration platform as a service” (iPaaS) to link the many apps and technologies they use, such as MuleSoft, Zapier, or Boomi. But labs have been slow to adopt such tools.
After years of what the International Money Fund (IMF) calls “powerful blows” to the global economy, modest signs of improvement are expected into 2024. In its April 2023 World Economic Outlook (WEO): A Rocky Recovery, the IMF projects global growth will slope from 3.4% in 2022 to 2.8% in 2023, before bumping up to 3.0% in 2024. Global inflation has begun to recover (albeit more slowly than predicted in January’s WEO Update), and will drop to 7.0% in 2023 and 4.9% in 2024 after hitting 8.7% in 2022.
The World Health Organization estimates nearly one in ten people becomes sick from food each year, and a total of 420,000 of those die from the illness. The novel coronavirus’ possible origin in a seafood market and its many variants have also drawn attention to how new and rapidly mutating microbes can wreak havoc on public health. In addition to protecting consumers’ health and confirming nutritional content throughout the production process, laboratory testing of food is required to ensure food authenticity. According to the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA), food fraud costs the global food industry as much as $40 billion each year.
The unfolding crisis in East Palestine, Ohio, where a cargo train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed in early February, is just the latest high-profile incident to evince the importance of environmental testing. The derailment and subsequent controlled burn of several train cars containing the carcinogenic chemical vinyl chloride, and the potential spill of other chemicals, prompted environmental and public health concerns in the surrounding community. Reports of thousands of dead fish in nearby waterways and residents experiencing headaches and rashes, among other incidents, emerged after the derailment.
The global economy is not out of the proverbial woods just yet. But the record-high inflation that has plagued the world since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 is hitting its peak, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reports in its January 2023 World Economic Outlook (WEO) Update: Inflation Peaking amid Low Growth. Though growth is expected to dip in 2023 and the shocks felt from tightening monetary policy, slowdowns in China, and the effects of the Russian war in Ukraine continue to radiate through the economy, the IMF says the adverse risks laid out in its October 2022 Outlook have moderated.
After months of back-and-forth, the United States Congress agreed to a $1.7 trillion spending bill for Fiscal Year 2023 on December 20, 2022, with President Biden signing it into law on December 29. The omnibus bill funds the federal government through September 30, 2023, and provides $195.2 billion for R&D funding, about a 10.3% increase from FY 2022.
As demonstrated by the introduction of novel mass spectrometry (MS) methods that add further dimensions to traditional MS, many next generation proteomics approaches aren’t attempting to reinvent the wheel. Rather, these new technologies build off and expand upon existing ones, including a new class of multiplex immunoassays that improve on the sensitivity or multiplexing abilities of conventional immunoassays like ELISA.