News and Updates

Displaying 1 - 25 of 150

Illustration of DNA molecules entering a tube with lightning bolt in foreground

New Technique for Measuring DNA Damage Could Improve Cancer Therapy and Radiological Emergency Response

August 21, 2025

The technology, which may someday be as portable as a smartphone, promises faster and more accurate measurements of radiation exposure, potentially saving lives...

NIST Study Aims to Improve Utility of the Scanning Electron Microscope

April 25, 2025

Using an electron beam to image the tiniest of defects and patterns on microchips, the scanning electron microscope (SEM) has long been a mainstay of the...

NIST Scientists Use DNA Origami on a Chip to Detect Biomolecules

October 17, 2024

Using strands of DNA to create miniature hinges that pop open or shut when binding to specific molecules, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and...

Tiny New Lasers Fill a Long-Standing Gap in the Rainbow of Visible-Light Colors, Opening New Applications

August 28, 2024

Researchers have created orange, yellow and green lasers tiny enough to fit on a chip.

Illustration shows tiny columns of light in different colors standing vertically along circuits on a chip.

Spotlight: Chip-Scale Frequency Combs Can Be Integrated With Other Sensors

April 2, 2024

Frequency combs — specialized lasers that act like rulers to measure light — are now being brought down to a low-power, chip-scale form. NIST researchers David...

Bullseye! NIST Devises a Method to Accurately Center Quantum Dots Within Photonic Chips

March 18, 2024

Devices that capture the brilliant light from millions of quantum dots, including chip-scale lasers and optical amplifiers, have made the transition from...

Researchers develop a new type of frequency comb that promises to further boost the accuracy of time keeping

March 14, 2024

Chip-based devices known as frequency combs, which measure the frequency of light waves with unparalleled precision, have revolutionized time keeping, the...

Artist’s rendering of an organ-on-a-chip device

NIST-Led Working Group Developing Standards for Organ-on-a-Chip Research

February 22, 2024

When testing a new medicine, researchers must do more than assess how well that drug works. They also have to determine whether the medicine has some negative...

An illustrated anatomically correct human heart sits inside of a microchip, with its valves connecting to the microchip sensors.

Heart-on-a-Chip: A Microfluidic Marvel Shaping the Future of Cardiovascular Research

February 6, 2024

Researchers at NIST have developed bioelectronic devices capable of real-time measurements of cell behavior.

Do the Bump: NIST Scientists Perfect Miniaturized Technique to Generate Precise Wavelengths of Visible Laser Light

November 28, 2023

In research, sometimes the bumpy path proves to be the best one. By creating tiny, periodic bumps in a miniature racetrack for light, researchers at the...

Manipulating Multiple Lasers on a Single Chip: Paving the Way for a New Generation of Quantum Devices

April 10, 2023

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed chip-scale devices for simultaneously manipulating the color, focus...

Improved Chip-Scale Color Conversion Lasers Could Enable Many Next-generation Quantum Devices

March 28, 2023

In two new studies, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have greatly improved the efficiency and power output of a series...

Liam Connolly sits next to a computer monitor and smiles for a photograph.

Spotlight: Quantum Connections for Recent Postdoctoral Researcher Liam G. Connolly

February 10, 2023

The NRC Research Associateship Programs at NIST gave him an opportunity to try something new.

A graphical representation of a DNA biosensor device for clinical diagnostics that is the size and shape of a smartphone.

New DNA Biosensor Could Unlock Powerful, Low-Cost Clinical Diagnostics

January 24, 2023

The biosensor, developed by researchers at NIST, Brown University and the French research institute CEA-Leti, identifies biomarkers by measuring how binding...

Chip Circuit for Light Could Be Applied to Quantum Computations

January 3, 2023

The ability to transmit and manipulate the smallest unit of light, the photon, with minimal loss, plays a pivotal role in optical communications as well as...

nucleic acid nanotechnology illustration

A Revolution Still in the Making: NIST Researchers Chart the Future of Nucleic Acid Nanotechnology

October 27, 2022

Trapped in a microscopic cage made of strands of DNA, molecules of a life-saving drug course through the bloodstream of a cancer patient. Only when receptors on...

No Fib: NIST Unmasks a Superfast Process for Nanoscale Machining

August 23, 2022

Cutting intricate patterns as small as several billionths of a meter deep and wide, the focused ion beam (FIB) is an essential tool for deconstructing and...

NIST Researchers Develop Miniature Lens for Trapping Atoms

August 1, 2022

Atoms are notoriously difficult to control. They zigzag like fireflies, tunnel out of the strongest containers and jitter even at temperatures near absolute...

New Device Design Brings Unparalleled Confidence to Cell Measurements

July 20, 2022

Measuring the numbers and properties of cells moving in a stream — a process called flow cytometry — is critically important to diagnostic medicine...

$diffraction grating$

‘Exceptional’ Research: Unexpected Light Behavior May Be Harnessed to Improve Optical Communications and Sensors

April 21, 2022

Shine a flashlight into murky pond water and the beam won’t penetrate very far. Absorption and scattering rapidly diminishes the intensity of the light beam...

Inspired by Prehistoric Creatures, NIST Researchers Make Record-Setting Lenses

April 19, 2022

Five hundred million years ago, the oceans teemed with trillions of trilobites — creatures that were distant cousins of horseshoe crabs. All trilobites had a...

Ultraviolet Light Can Clean N95 Masks for Reuse Without Hindering Performance, NIST Study Shows

March 25, 2022

To combat COVID-19 amid supply shortages in 2020, health care facilities across the U.S. resorted to disinfecting personal protective equipment (PPE), such as...

Not Letting It Slip By: NIST Discovery Could Increase Accuracy in Measuring Blood Flow for Cancer Diagnosis, Other Applications

March 22, 2022

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have discovered a potential source of error when using acoustic waves to measure the...

Scientists Greatly Expand the Frequencies Generated by a Miniature Optical Ruler

February 23, 2022

Like a vocal coach who extends the octave range of an opera singer, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have expanded by...

Hybrid Optical Device Captures Light for Longer Periods of Time in a Tiny Region

February 9, 2022

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and their colleagues have significantly improved the ability of a type of optical...

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