A new laser-based injection system that blasts microscopic jets of drugs into the skin could soon make getting a shot as painless as being hit with a puff of air.

The use of magnets and fluids that become rigid in the presence of electromagnetic effects is perhaps the strangest of the technologies now being applied to optics finishing and polishing after centuries of little change.

Ultrafast lasers are gaining wider acceptance in a variety of applications and femtosecond systems are at the forefront. As higher average power increases, the cold ablation characteristics of the femtosecond range of lasers is making ultrafast systems much more attractive.

Maintaining the integrity of our waterways and wetlands requires a good deal of management; it’s certainly not a case of sitting back and letting nature take its course. Ecologists and water managers will monitor the water quality for nutrient levels, pollutants, turbidity and a myriad of other parameters that indicate how healthy or otherwise the wetland is. Water Insight, a company based in the Netherlands, has developed its WISP-3 product as a portable device that gives data on the material suspended in surface water.

The story of JK Lasers begins in the early 1970s, when Jim K Wright (the JK in JK lasers) and Ron Burbeck started the company in Rugby, UK. It manufactured pulsed YAG lasers, and quickly became one of the first industrial laser providers in the world. It established itself as a solution provider for cutting, welding and drilling applications; these markets are still the company’s main focus.