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Melinda Kleczynski poses sitting at her desk, with a monitor showing data and graphs behind her.

From Diamonds in Your Computer to Safer Medications, NIST Researchers Look at What’s Next for 2024 and Beyond

December 18, 2023

Our up-and-coming researchers look ahead to 2024 and beyond — and tell us how their work will impact the world.

Zach Grey poses outdoors with wind turbines in the background.

Riding the Wind: How Applied Geometry and Artificial Intelligence Can Help Us Win the Renewable Energy Race

December 7, 2023

Zach Grey

A NIST researcher is using math and AI to help design an optimal wind turbine.

A man faces away from the camera, gesturing as he speaks to three actors seated behind desks on a film set.

Standing Up for Scientific Integrity: A Q&A With Writer-Director José Ricardo García on the New Film ‘The AD-X2 Controversy’

December 7, 2023

In the 1950s, scientific integrity was put into question by a packet of salt. That controversy is the center of a new NIST film.

A Scientific Christmas Tale

December 5, 2023

Robin Materese

’Twas the night before Christmas; NIST staff had gone home. Our director was left to reflect all alone. She thought about NIST and the breadth of its work, from AI to fire to even the quark.

An antique clock showing a few minutes before 12 is topped with a party hat, and colorful streamers hang in the background.

Auld Lang ‘Time’: One of the Country’s Timekeepers Makes Sure We Ring in The New Year at Just the Right Second

November 27, 2023

Andrew Novick

As you prepare to watch the ball drop or pop champagne on New Year’s Eve, we’ll be keeping an eye on the clock — just as we always do.

In front of a laptop computer, a hand holds a cell phone that has a conversation with generative AI on the phone screen.

Minimizing Harms and Maximizing the Potential of Generative AI

November 8, 2023

Elham Tabassi

As generative AI tools like ChatGPT become more commonly used, we must think carefully about the impact on people and society.

Jerilyn Izac sits at a lab bench with her hands inside a plastic shield, using a device to draw liquid from a plastic container into a tube.

How Measurement Science Can Help Protect Us From Viruses

October 25, 2023

Jerilyn Izac

Imagine if for the next dangerous virus, we could quickly and easily test everyone’s levels of defenses — known as antibodies.

Banner with a cityscape and pictures of cybersecurity-related imagery

Stay Safe and Secure Online During Cybersecurity Awareness Month — and All Year

October 17, 2023

Chad Boutin

For advice you can use about online security and privacy, check out these tips from NIST experts.

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

Think You Know What a Second Is? It Will Likely Change in the Next Decade.

October 16, 2023

Tara Fortier

As the world has modernized and our pace of life has increased, our relationship to time has changed.

A man in safety gear crouches to examine a damaged wall inside a building after an earthquake.

The Highs and Lows of Studying the Aftermath of One of Turkey’s Deadliest Earthquakes

October 16, 2023

Matthew Speicher

Our goal at NIST is to not only document and learn from disasters, but to also spur innovation and make recommendations to help lessen the impact of the next disaster.

Diana Ortiz-Montalvo, wearing safety glasses and holding a small circular filter with tweezers, poses with Abigail Lindstrom in the lab.

Microplastics Mystery: Sampling Airborne Microplastics at a Recycling Facility

October 4, 2023

Diana Ortiz-Montalvo

During National Hispanic Heritage Month, a NIST researcher shares how her upbringing in Puerto Rico inspired her to study air quality.

Portrait of NIST researcher Shanée Dawkins

My Research Can Help Protect You — and Your Company — From Hackers Trying to Steal Your Money and Information

September 29, 2023

Shanée Dawkins

During Cybersecurity Awareness Month, learn how NIST is helping organizations improve their phishing training - keeping all of our information safer.

Several metallic envelopes with NIST labels are displayed with Halloween decorations like cobwebs, skeletons and pumpkins.

There Will Be (Precisely Measured) Blood: A Haunted House Tour Through NIST’s Spookiest Reference Materials

September 28, 2023

Megan King

This spooky season, join us for a haunted house tour of the scariest standard reference materials in our labs.

Isabelle Rivera poses smiling at a computer with two monitors, one showing a spreadsheet and the other multiple file icons.

Reaching for the Stars: My Summer Internship Learning About Spectroscopy in Space and on Earth

September 13, 2023

Isabelle Rivera

As a summer high school intern at NIST, I got to take a deep dive into one of the ways scientists study space — the absorption and emission of light by matter, known as spectroscopy.

A medical worker wears gloves as she prepares to swab the nose of a female patient.

Measuring the Accuracy of PCR Tests Can Improve Health Care Beyond COVID-19

September 11, 2023

Robert DeJaco

Many of us have taken a COVID-19 test. But, have you ever wondered, after your sample goes off to a lab, exactly how they arrive at a positive or negative result?

Miral Dizdaroglu wears safety glasses as he poses in the lab next to an open spectrometer, which looks a little like a microwave with extra buttons.

How We Studied DNA Damage in Cooked Food — and What It Might Mean for Our Health

August 24, 2023

Miral Dizdaroglu

When you eat plants or meat, you’re also eating a tiny amount of that plant or animal’s DNA. But what happens to that plant or animal DNA when you cook the food before eating it?

A large white balloon with a small box attached to it waits inside a cinderblock building with a rolltop door.

Up, Up and Away: How NIST Research Helped Improve Weather Balloon Forecasting

August 23, 2023

A key component of the weather balloon — which helps meteorologists forecast the weather every day — was developed at NIST in the 1930s.

Two people wearing coveralls in a "clean room" lab look up at a disk-shaped object that one of them is holding.

Agents of Contrast, Software Runaway Hit, Our Early Universe: A Sample of Stories on NIST Social Media

August 16, 2023

Riley Wilson

Curious? It’s time to get you caught up on a few of the summer happenings at NIST.

Kandice Taylor, in safety glasses, laughs as she pours liquids into a glass flask that is overflowing with foam.

I’m Helping My Garden Vegetables — and My Students — Bloom Where They Are Planted

August 10, 2023

Kandice Taylor

Middle school is the perfect time to plant the seed for a child to grow a lifelong love of science.

Alshae' Logan-Jackson wears a purple coverall and safety glasses in the lab as she uses tweezers to hold a small white disk.

Protecting People From Plumbing Pathogens Is Personal to Me

July 20, 2023

Alshae’ Logan-Jackson

Pathogens can get into our water through plumbing and are especially dangerous for people with compromised immune systems.

Grace Waters poses smiling in the lab, leaning against a desk with a computer monitor showing data and graphs.

A Summer of Science: NIST Interns’ Stories of Their Time in the Lab

July 20, 2023

From measuring UV light to working on virtual reality software, a summer at NIST is not your average internship.

Drawing of Nikola Tesla with his chin propped on his hand.

What’s in a Name? The Tesla

June 27, 2023

Sandy Ressler

Do you enjoy flipping on the light switch? Well, you can thank Nikola Tesla — born 167 years ago today.

Illustration shows tiny colored pieces of plastic floating under the surface of the ocean with sunlight shining through.

Small Particles, Big Problem: Measuring Microplastics’ Impact on Fish

June 20, 2023

Meredith Evans Seeley

Viruses are not just a problem for humans. Viruses are common in our oceans and aquatic environments, too.

Under the orange lights of a clean room, Katarina Cicak, wearing a coverall and safety glasses, displays tiny chips in a plastic box.

From Escaping a War to Becoming a Mom of 3 at Once, Science Has Always Been There for Me

June 14, 2023

Katarina Cicak

I learned as a young adult not to get attached to material things; they can be gone in an instant. But there were some things I knew no one could take — an education and my love of science.

Peter Trask sits at a lab table working on wiring for a scientific device.

My Lab Helps People Breathe Easier All Over the World

June 12, 2023

Peter Trask

My lab here in Gaithersburg, Maryland, helps agencies all over the world track their pollution levels by measuring them accurately.

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