• Carbon Dating of Cave Art - Mass Spectrometry dates prehistoric cave paintings in southern France...


• On the Nose - MS shows mice prefer to mate with partners that express different MHC genes...


• Special Delivery - A mass spectrometer is delivered to the international space station...


• Molecular Hitchhiking on a Comet - Mass spectrometry shows molecules can survive an impact with Earth...


• Mass Spectrometry Unearths Mexico's Maize - Accelerator MS provides evidence of early agriculture in Mexico...


• Mass of the Universe -Scientists may finally have a reliable estimate of the mass of the universe...


• Airport Security - Ion mobility mass spectrometry to detect narcotics at airports...


• MS at the Olympics - Mass spectrometry keeps the athletes honest...


• more past features...

• Ion Formula by Mol. Weight
• Isotope Pattern Calculator
• Mass Loss Calculator
• Periodic e-Table

• EMBL Peptide Search - protein ID from peptide mass and sequence data
• FindMod - post-translational modifications by peptide mass
• GlycanMass - oligosaccharide mass from structure
• GlycoMod - oligosaccharide structures from mass
• GlycoSuiteDB - search database with oligosaccharide mass
• Javascript Protein Digest - peptide digest masses
• Javascipt Fragment Ion Generator for peptides
• Mascot Search - peptide mass and sequence tools
• Mowse - protein identification from peptide MS data
• Protein Prospector - mass spectra interpretation tools
• PROWL - identification of proteins from MS data

Comet Fly-By

NASA's Stardust probe flew to within 3300 kms of comet Annefrank on November 2nd with a sophisticated mass spectrometer onboard.

The spacecraft has passed the asteroid, named after Jewish teenager Anne Frank whose famous diaries recorded Germany's occupation in wartime Amsterdam, in deep space in a final test of the instruments that will analyze dust from a comet's tail in 2004. The fly-by successfully tested the spacecraft's comet-tracking system, its communications links and onboard mass spectrometer.

Stardust will perform its main task in January 2004 when it will fly to within 100 kms of another comet known as Wild 2. It will attempt to capture dust from this comet's tail and should then return to Earth with the first ever comet samples in 2006. The samples should provide information on how our solar system evolved and the planets formed. The probe should also capture images of a comet.

During the test, the spacecraft's mass spectrometer was activated. Thcomet uses an aerogel to capture the dust particles that will be analyzed by the mass spectrometer.

Full details appear at the NASA web site.

 

• European Mass Spectrom.
• Intl. J. of Mass Spectrom.
• J. American Society of MS
• J. Mass Spectrometry
• J. MS Society of Japan
• Mass Spectrometry Reviews
• Rapid Communications in MS

• Analyst
• Analytical Chemistry
• Nature
• New Scientist
• Science
• Scientific American

• Beilstein Abstracts
• ChemWeb
• Current Contents - ISI
• PubMed - NCBI
• PubScience - DOE

• Africa
• Asia
• Australia / NZ
• Canada
• Europe
• Mexico / Carribean
• South America
• USA