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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

Ben P. Stein

Words that have common meanings have different definitions in the world of measurement science.

Esther Baumann leans over a lab table, surrounded with wires and scientific equipment.

A Laser Could Offer a Peek Into the Insides of Our Muscles or Look Through Fire

October 25, 2024

Esther Baumann

A NIST-developed laser system might someday check your muscle health when you flex your arm. These lasers can also see how an object changes during heat exposure when it is in a fire.

Historical photo shows three men standing next to a refrigerator-sized piece of machinery with an analog clock attached to the top.

How Atomic Clocks Have Changed Our World

October 15, 2024

Gabriel Popkin

We spend our days immersed in time. But where does time come from? How do we track it? This has evolved along with technology in recent years.

Line drawing labeled "Industrial Symbiosis" shows a circle of arrows over a factory with smokestacks and a cooling tower with a leaf design.

Nature’s Lessons: Creating a Greener Future for Manufacturing

October 9, 2024

Abheek Chatterjee

What if one manufacturer’s trash could be another’s treasure? A NIST researcher looks to nature for answers to this question.

A Christmas tree is engulfed in flames. To the left is a chair. In front is a coffee table, rug and fishbowl. To the right is a tall bookshelf. There are 3 wrapped presents under the tree. A timer reads 8:04 seconds.

Safety Moon Shot: How Fire Research Cut Deaths by Half in a Generation

October 3, 2024

Megan King

NIST research helped make the smoke alarm a standard part of our homes, and it’s one of many ways our fire research has made everyone safer.

Header shows a drawing of Wilhelm Weber, an electricity transmission tower, and a magnet, and reads: What's in a Name? The Stories Behind the Names of Units of Measurement.

What’s in a Name? The Magnetic Weber

October 1, 2024

Sandy Ressler

Dr. Wilhelm Weber gets the distinction of having the unit of magnetic flux, the weber, named in his honor. Magnetic flux measures the total magnetic field that passes through a surface.

Blonde woman in black top sitting at desk with laptop across from man in blue shirt

Cybersecurity Careers Go Beyond Coding

September 30, 2024

You don’t have to be a coder or have a technical background to work in cybersecurity. Learn about the career stories of three of our NIST cybersecurity professionals.

Side-by-side photos show Mei Lee Ngan disguised with a wig, moustache and makeup (left) and as her normal, smiling self (right).

Facing the Facts to Keep Our Biometrics Secure

September 24, 2024

Mei Lee Ngan

As facial recognition has become more common — from opening your smartphone to identifying yourself at a national border — NIST’s work in facial recognition has become more high-stakes.

Two men sit at a table in a lab, facing each other and smiling as they talk and gesture toward their computer screens.

Can Nanotechnology Help Solve Climate Change?

September 10, 2024

Lawrence Goodman

When we think about the climate crisis, we tend to think big. But two NIST researchers are thinking of small ways to help our planet — as in technology 1,000 times smaller than a hair.

Trey Diulus poses sitting in the lab with a large, complex scientific instrument in the foreground.

Curiosity to Career: Encouraging Students to Pursue STEM Education

September 6, 2024

J. Trey Diulus

A NIST researcher is volunteering to educate young students about life as a scientist — and encourage kids to envision a career for themselves in STEM.

NIST Chief Metrologist Jim Olthoff stands in front of equipment in a lab.

Keepers of the Right Answer: Why Measurements at NIST Are Important for the Nation and the World

September 5, 2024

James K. Olthoff

Practically everything you use in your everyday life works because of measurement science.

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