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Taking Measure

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Ming Zheng stands outside smiling and holding a model of a nanotube made of a lattice of smaller tubes.

To See Life in a Drop of Blood

July 7, 2022
Ming Zheng
… spanning several orders of magnitude. A blood test provides lots of information to your doctor regarding your physiological state, but a … and other accomplishments, Mijin was recently recognized as one of MIT Technology Review’ s 2022 “Innovators Under 35.”  Turning Science …
collage of images from the WTC disaster, a blueprint of an airplane, a representation of one of the towers, the word modeling

Analyzing the Aftermath of the Twin Towers Aircraft Impacts

August 12, 2021
Steven W. Kirkpatrick
… me, the work we did as part of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) World Trade Center (WTC) investigation is one such … team at NIST was supportive of our efforts and had collected all the information needed for the analysis of the tower structures. They … to be overcome, such as getting access to detailed structural design information on the aircraft, modifying the aircraft geometry data …
Photo of damage from 2011 Joplin, Mo, tornado

Resilience Rises from Tragedy in Joplin

May 31, 2016
Marc Levitan
… 175 mph. Indicators such as these will provide much more accurate information than we have now about winds near ground level.  Such information will help to improve engineering designs for tornado … siren systems. We have also recommended the development of “push” technology, like the amber alerts you get on your phone, that would go …
Brad Sutliff wears safety glasses as he stands in the lab in front of a computer monitor.

From Trash to Cash: How AI and Machine Learning Can Help Make Recycling Less Expensive for Local Governments

May 3, 2024
Bradley Sutliff
… at NIST has been focused on using near-visible infrared light (NIR), a technology that can look at plastics and rapidly tell us what they are. … we show that you can use reflected light to find out almost the same information — much more quickly. And on the recycling line, time is of … too. It’s cool because it demonstrates that we can pull a lot more information out of these light-based measurements if we set things up …
Joannie Chin stands with arms crossed, wearing safety goggles, in front of scientific equipment.

Building in a Changing Climate: A Q&A With NIST’s Joannie Chin

July 26, 2022
… design for future climate events, but because of climate change, that information may not always be relevant. What are some specific research … and what the demographics of that population are. We're capturing information about social vulnerability related to race, ethnicity, … there are a lot of lingering issues. There’s a lot of interesting information to find out about populations that are underserved compared …
Pigeon bomb pilot

The Saga of the Bird-Brained Bombers

August 29, 2017
Keith Martin
… to a ground operator who would remotely steer the bomb. But television technology was still in its infancy in the 1940s, and there was too … Pigeon is still with us today. The conductive touchscreen display technology the pigeons used made its way into early radar consoles and …
woman with red laser safety glasses on working at a laser table adjusting optics

Atlantic Salmon Hormones, Trapping Molecular Ions, Lasers for Greenhouse Gas Measurements: Postdocs Share Their Stories on NIST Social Media

January 12, 2021
Riley Wilson
… researchers to join the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) National Research Council (NRC) Postdoctoral Research … truly engineers instead of chemists, since they focused so much on the technology and its applications in chemistry. The research team … gas measurements … Marine science … Metrology … Physics … Quantum information science … Spectroscopy … Atlantic Salmon Hormones, Trapping …
a bullet inside a small glass vial

How the JFK Assassination Bullets Were Digitally Preserved at NIST

April 13, 2020
Robert M. Thompson
… of the bullets have been made available to researchers. However, the technology was now available for an improved means of dissemination and … surface area we had estimated. As with many plans using cutting-edge technology, the first timeline had to be tossed, and the “few days” … " and the video below.   … Forensic Science … Firearms and toolmarks … Information technology … Visualization research … Materials … Materials …
an opalescent close up of Roman glass. There is a clear semi-circular fracture in the center of the piece.

Ancient Roman Glass, Perceiving Color in LED, 3D Mapping for Public Safety, SRMs in Space: A Sample of Stories From the Social Sphere

May 21, 2020
Riley Wilson
… the social media presence for the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) means that I get to share enthusiasm . That’s exactly … lives. Here at NIST, researchers are investigating whether 3D mapping technology could provide that critical situational awareness. Light … a building, or maps for indoor tracking systems. That’s cutting-edge technology to plan for critical circumstances. This SRM Can Take the …
aerial view of the oil tanker Byron D. Benson ablaze after a U-boat attack

The Big Inch: Fueling America’s WWII War Effort

March 23, 2018
Keith Martin
… of Standards (NBS, now called the National Institute of Standards and Technology, or NIST). William Gillum Heltzel (1895-1959) graduated from the Carnegie Institute of Technology in 1918 and landed his first post-college job that same year …
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
… But it was an opportunity to learn something new and see how the information gathered may help better prepare for future earthquakes.  … take a photo and walk around and inspect damage yourself to glean the information needed. It takes time and money to visit a site multiple … over and over again for a period of years, they could learn valuable information we couldn’t get in one visit. This information could help …
Man at WannaCry computer

Things That Make Me Wannacry

June 21, 2017
Pat Toth
… at least to their parents, seem to have a natural relationship with technology and an intuitive grasp of how it works. At the same time, … give them the tools they need, as best you can, to forge ahead.   … Information technology … Cybersecurity … Risk management … Trustworthy networks … …
A couch is in flames in a mocked-up room inside a large fire testing facility.

Saving Lives by Making Upholstered Furniture More Resistant to Fire

February 7, 2022
Mauro Zammarano
… of Trieste in Italy visiting the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for the first time. What was supposed to be a few … prevent furniture fires, I have been investigating a different kind of technology, known as fire-barrier fabrics. They aren’t based on … industry has not yet adopted fire barriers in its products. For a new technology such as this one, reasonable concerns could include cost and …
young woman in a lab coat looks at vials with a small amount of green liquid in them before putting them into a machine

Rewritten in Our DNA: Measurements for Genome Editing

September 23, 2019
Samantha Maragh
… going strong. We are living in the genome era, in which we have the technology to “read” the four letters (A, C, T and G) of our DNA, the … culture. The ability to efficiently read the genome has accelerated technology and medicine and given us access to life-changing knowledge, … quality and confidence in the measurements and data underpinning this technology. While there are many things that need careful …
cartoon of a young woman at her desk speaking by webcam with another person.

The NIST Summer Undergraduate Fellowship Program Goes Virtual

January 27, 2021
Brandi Toliver
… Brandi Toliver … The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) designed the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship … to inspire undergraduate students to pursue careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) through a unique research … communications … Bioscience … Buildings and Construction … Chemistry … Information technology … Cybersecurity … Resilience … Electronics … …
worker repairing an electrical line

Learning from the Best of the Best

November 22, 2017
Walter Copan
… the recently-appointed Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology, it was a pleasure to add my own congratulations in each of … NIST for a wide-ranging portfolio including oversight of the nation’s technology transfer program, as well as the Baldrige Program. The … Framework and Criteria … Best practices … Leadership development … Technology transfer … Learning from the Best of the Best …
Woman and man talking beside wall with several square illustrations of science art

Finding Art in Science

October 24, 2016
Kelly Irvine
… in the language of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management , a "Visual Information Specialist." For the past 18 years I’ve been working at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), a federal laboratory where some of the best and …
A line of cars with fire and smoke nearby

Fighting Fire with Fire-Breathing Dragons

June 22, 2016
Sam Manzello
… —but we just call it the Dragon. You can learn more about our Dragon technology by watching the video below.   We use the Dragon to generate … Dragon, which we call the Baby Dragon. The marriage of NIST’s Dragon technology and these experimental facilities is helping us gain new … that other research laboratories worldwide are reproducing our Dragon technology. For example, the Insurance Institute for Business and Home …
group of five men holding champagne flutes

The 'Gang of Five' and the SI Revolution

May 16, 2019
Peter Mohr
… that influenced me to come to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) was the important work it was doing on providing … but we can hope that it is a step forward for the SI and science and technology. I’m proud to have been a member of the Gang and to have … Electronics … Metrology … Mass metrology … Metric … Physics … Quantum information science … Standards … The 'Gang of Five' and the SI …
Concept of internet of things ecosystem

'Cybersecuring' the Internet of Things

June 27, 2017
Donna Dodson
… traffic patterns or pollution—some data, such as medical and genetic information, needs to be kept confidential, so we’ll need layers of … making us all safer in the process. … Energy … Environment … Health … Information technology … Cybersecurity … Identity and access management … Privacy …
female face against a black background littered with bits of computer code. The woman is wearing a hat and sunglasses. There is a string of code coming from her mouth that looks like a cigarette.

Cybercrime: It’s Worse Than We Thought

June 24, 2020
Douglas S. Thomas
… activity, making cybercrime more prevalent. For example, my personal information (e.g., Social Security number) has been stolen countless times and my credit card information has been stolen and used on numerous occasions, but my … But the evidence suggests it’s more than we thought. … Information technology … Cybersecurity … Cybersecurity measurement … Manufacturing …
an apple tree standing in a courtyard with the sun streaming through its leaves

The Tangled Tale of NIST’s Newton Apple Tree

June 20, 2018
Mark Esser
… tree, is among those to whom the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has bestowed a scion of a different sort: a clone of … Commerce Ed Vetter, who donated his to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; former NIST Director Pat Gallagher, who donated his to the … internet (and former chair of the NIST Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology) Vinton Cerf, who donated his to Stanford University. As the …