The latest two thematic series published in Heritage Science provide wonderful examples of the interdisciplinary nature of chemistry and how it can be applied to many different and sometimes surprising areas.
The first of these thematic series presents papers from the 11th International Conference on Indoor Air Quality in Heritage and Historic Environments, which was held in the Kaiserstejn Palace in Prague April 13-16, 2014. The main focus of the conference was environmental monitoring in relation to corrosion and degradation of cultural heritage and the pollutants in the indoor environment. Some examples of this are shown in the thematic series with papers looking at the effect of particulate matter on paper degradation and how mercuric chloride treatment for herbarium collections can affect the indoor air quality of repositories.
The series also presents the latest research on the modeling and simulation work being carried out in the area of pollutants in the indoor environment. The contribution from Johanna Leissner et al. utilizes new building stimulation tools along with high resolution regional climate models to predict future outdoor and indoor climate conditions.
The second series launched in December 2015 and showcases papers from the Imaging and Analysis of Cultural Heritage Materials symposium which was held during the during the Microscopy and Microanalysis conference in Hartford, Connecticut, 2-7 August 2014.
The symposium covered many areas including the use of microanalysis and microscopy for the conservation of objects, low cost technologies to monitor cultural heritage and imaging objects using deep zoom mosaics or multiple methodologies. The first set of papers is available online open access presenting the latest research in protecting silver cultural heritage objects to analysis that reveals the diversity of materials used by medieval artists. The series will continue to publish over the coming months so stay tuned.
For all the up-to-date research visit the Heritage Science website and sign up for the latest article alerts!
