Search Taking Measure

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Two NIST researchers, wearing hardhats and protective jackets, watch a small shed burn as part of a setudy.

Fighting Fire With Research: How a Scientist Is Protecting People and Property From Wildfires

June 12, 2025

Brian Gutierrez

NIST fire experts are working to better understand dangerous wildfires, so communities can protect people and homes.

A model of a human head lies face up on the platform of an MRI machine.

Precise Measurements Can Help Cancer Patients Live Longer, Healthier Lives

June 2, 2025

Stephen Russek

NIST researchers are working to better measure radiation — to help keep cancer patients living long, healthy lives after they complete their treatments.

Corey Stambaugh poses smiling outdoors on the NIST campus.

A Quantum Leap Forward: How Tiny Particles Can Bring Us Exciting New Tech

May 22, 2025

Corey Stambaugh

Researchers are using quantum science to develop computers that can do tasks traditional computers can’t do as efficiently. That’s why it’s an exciting time to work in quantum.

A person performs chest compressions on a CPR practice mannequin.

Shocking History: How a NIST Engineer Helped Create Lifesaving CPR

May 9, 2025

Keith Martin

An electrical engineer who worked at NIST helped create the technique we know today as cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR.

A detailed view of two connected blue and silver train cars on a railway track.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles: NIST Edition

April 30, 2025

Riley Wilson

However you choose to get from A to B, NIST helped make your preferred mode of transportation safer and more standardized.

How NIST Helped Start an Industry: Our Role in Jump-Starting Quantum Information Science

April 29, 2025

Ben P. Stein

While quantum technology may seem like a new field, it’s been around for a while and has a fascinating history — much of which involved NIST’s experts.

A researcher wearing a mask, safety glasses and gloves sits at a desk, looking at electronic devices and writing on a clipboard.

Research-Based Practices Can Help Forensic Scientists Do Their Best Work

April 24, 2025

Melissa Taylor

A NIST working group made recommendations to help forensic scientists work more effectively — with the goal of making the justice system more impartial.

Scott Davis poses smiling and holding a frequency comb console. Other similar electronic products are stacked on carts around him.

Quantum Advances: NIST and Industry Drive Powerful Computing and Clocks

April 8, 2025

Scott Davis

Imagine what life would be like without GPS, something you use all the time without thinking about where it came from. NIST research helped bring you GPS and many other important technologies.

Krister Shalm, wearing safety glasses, smiles over a lab table covered with electronics equipment.

Quantum and Dance: It Takes 2 to Entangle

March 21, 2025

Krister Shalm

Quantum physics and dancing may seem very different, but they both rely on creativity and precision. Both have shaped one NIST researcher’s outlook on life.

Alexander Kramida looks up as he sits at his desk in front of a computer screen full of data.

Shedding Light: How NIST’s Light Database Helps Bring You Computer Chips, Welded Steel and More

March 17, 2025

Alexander Kramida

Atomic spectroscopy helps to bring us many things we use every day, but without updated information, it would be harder for scientists and experts to create these things. That’s where a NIST atomic spectra database comes in.

Julie Haney sits at a table in the NIST library with a laptop, looking at a smartphone in her hand.

7 Tips to Keep Your Smart Home Safer and More Private, From a NIST Cybersecurity Researcher

March 11, 2025

Julie Haney

Our smart home devices can be compromised, but you can take a few simple steps to reduce your risks.

Justyna Zwolak poses for a casual photo outdoors on the NIST campus.

Marie Skłodowska-Curie: A Legacy of Innovation and Empowerment for Women in Science

February 12, 2025

Justyna Zwolak

Growing up in a country where the first scientist to win a Nobel Prize was a woman helped inspire a NIST researcher to pursue her career in science.

Leroy Jia poses smiling at his desk, with piles of books in the background.

Mathematical Models Can Help Us Understand — and Possibly Treat — Complex Diseases

February 3, 2025

Leroy Jia, Xinyi Liu

What if a computer model could help make us healthier? Researchers at NIST and elsewhere are working to make this a reality for patients with a condition of the esophagus.

A researcher in a lab coat and safety glasses poses next to a large piece of lab equipment.

The Insulation That Melts in Your Walls — and Could Reduce Your Energy Costs

January 30, 2025

Brian Gutierrez

Wherever humans go, we take some form of insulation with us to keep us at just the right temperature. But just because the idea is old doesn’t mean that there haven’t been innovations. One of those innovations could lower your energy costs.

A researcher wearing safety glasses reaches into a box of circuitry and other equipment, which emits a green glow.

5 Concepts Can Help You Understand Quantum Mechanics and Technology — Without Math!

January 28, 2025

Tara Fortier

Quantum is everywhere, and you can understand the basic quirks of life at the quantum level … no math required.

A rectangular box coated with reflective foil hangs from cables over a parking lot.

High-Flying Science: How and Why We Sent a Refrigerator Halfway to Space

January 23, 2025

Ephraim Gau

NIST-developed tools can study the remnants of the Big Bang and more, and now researchers are working to launch these tools high above the Earth’s atmosphere — in a scientific refrigerator.

Four men are protected by a net structure as they look away from the camera toward a drone flying in a large high-ceilinged room with street signs on the walls.

Drones in Disaster Zones: How Advanced 3D Mapping Technology Can Help First Responders Save Lives

January 6, 2025

Megan King

NIST is working to help emergency workers have more information in a crisis by encouraging the development of advanced drones at an affordable price.

A Look Back at the Past 3 Years’ Accomplishments, by NIST Director Laurie E. Locascio

December 23, 2024

Laurie E. Locascio

NIST Director Laurie E. Locascio departs NIST this month after more than 30 years at the agency, including three as its director.

Peter Beaucage wears safety glasses as he stands in the lab, holding a piece of equipment on display.

Robots and AI Are Working Together to Bring You Better Medicines, Shampoo and More

December 19, 2024

Peter Beaucage

Products you use every day are carefully formulated in a lab. Experts at NIST are now working to revolutionize how those products are made.

Photos of everyday objects like an iron, a gas can and a laptop along with high-tech items like an atomic clock and a mass balance. Label reads: 10 Ways NIST Impacts Your Daily Life.

From Safer Skies to Fewer Fires: 10 Ways NIST Impacts Your Daily Life

December 10, 2024

Robin Materese

If you’ve ever had a medical test, flown on an airplane, or needed to check the time, NIST’s work affects your life every day.

Briana Capistran wears safety glasses as she poses smiling in the lab with computers and other equipment in the background.

Speeding Up the Wheels of Justice: How NIST Resources Can Help Crime Labs Work Faster

December 4, 2024

Briana Capistran

Forensic science is not as easy as it looks on TV. But NIST resources are helping crime labs examine evidence more efficiently — so the justice system can work better for everyone.

Illustration shows a lottery ball machine: a clear plastic sphere on a stand, half-filled with colorful numbered balls.

Pirouetting Molecules Can Help Us Learn About the History of the Universe

November 22, 2024

Dietrich Leibfried

Our researchers are trapping tiny, fast-moving molecules — in hopes of learning more about the formation of our stars and universe.

A researcher wearing a lab coat uses tongs to place a silvery sphere into a large scientific device as another researcher looks on.

Talk NISTy to Me: When Everyday Words Take On Different Meanings in Measurement Science

October 28, 2024