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Material Measurement Laboratory

News and Updates

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X-Ray Probe Finds New Organic Transistors Do Well in Hot Water

April 17, 2012

Materials scientists from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), working with an international research team, have helped prove the...

Researchers Validate Simplified Lateral Force Calibration Technique for Atomic Force Microscopy

March 28, 2012

Researchers from the NIST Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology and the NIST Material Measurement Laboratory have demonstrated that a simpler technique...

Two for One: Simultaneous Size and Electrochemical Measurement of Nanomaterials

March 6, 2012

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have done a mash-up of two very different experimental techniques—neutron scattering...

NIST Releases Gulf of Mexico Crude Oil Reference Material

March 6, 2012

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has released a new certified reference material to support the federal government's Natural Resources...

NIST researchers have combined a glass slide, plastic sheets and double-sided tape to create an inexpensive and simple-to-build microfluidic device for exposing an array of cells to different concentrations of a chemical.

New NIST 'Cell Assay on a Chip': Solid Results from Simple Means

February 7, 2012

The great artist and inventor Leonardo da Vinci once said that "simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST...

NIST Announces Program to ID Human Cell Lines for Research

February 7, 2012

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has announced that it is launching a project to collect and catalog DNA identification data for up to...

$Transmission electron diffraction pattern from from a segment of an indium gallium nitride (InGaN) nanowire about 50 nanometers in diameter taken with an SEM using the new NIST technique$

Hacking the SEM: Crystal Phase Detection for Nanoscale Samples

January 24, 2012

Custom modifications of equipment are an honored tradition of the research lab. In a recent paper, two materials scientists at the National Institute of...

Stretching Exercises: Using Digital Images to Understand Bridge Failures

January 10, 2012

With a random-looking spatter of paint specks, a pair of cameras and a whole lot of computer processing, engineer Mark Iadicola of the National Institute of...

Photomicrograph showing human lung cells infected with cytomegalovirus.

NIST Standard Available for Better Diagnosis, Treatment of Cytomegalovirus

January 10, 2012

A new clinical Standard Reference Material (SRM) from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will help health care professionals more...

NIST software simulates the tip of an atomic force microscope moving left across a stack of four sheets of graphene.

Slippery When Stacked: NIST Theorists Quantify the Friction of Graphene

January 10, 2012

Similar to the way pavement, softened by a hot sun, will slow down a car, graphene—a one-atom-thick sheet of carbon with wondrous properties—slows down an...

NIST Releases Two New SRMs for Monitoring Human Exposure to Environmental Toxins

January 10, 2012

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), has developed two new...

Scanning electron microscope image of a typical sample of the NIST single-wall carbon nanotube soot standard reference material.

NIST Releases First Certified Reference Material for Single-Wall Carbon Nanotubes

December 20, 2011

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has issued the world's first reference material for single-wall carbon nanotube soot. Distantly...

A TEM image of annealed cobalt iron alloy

New Magnetic-Field-Sensitive Alloy Could Find Use in Novel Micromechanical Devices

November 22, 2011

Led by a group at the University of Maryland (UMd), a multi-institution team of researchers has combined modern materials research and an age-old metallurgy...

Zvi Kelman, director of NIST's new Biomolecular Labeling Laboratory, works near the lab's five user stations.

Tags? We're It. NIST Opens New 'Biolabeling' Research Facility

November 22, 2011

With the recent opening of its new Biomolecular Labeling Laboratory, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has become one of a small handful...

Salmon swimming within a netted pen at a fish farm in Maine.

Fish Flu: Genetics Approach May Lead to Treatment

November 8, 2011

A research team at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has provided the first look at a genetic structure that may play a critical role in...

Are Electron Tweezers Possible? Apparently So.

November 8, 2011

Not to pick up electrons, but tweezers made of electrons. A recent paper* by researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the...

Clusters of roughly 30-nanometer gold nanoparticles imaged by transmission electron microscopy.

Improved Characterization of Nanoparticle Clusters for EHS and Biosensors Research

October 25, 2011

The tendency of nanoparticles to clump together in solution—"agglomeration"—is of great interest because the size of the clusters plays an important role in the...

Shaping Up: Controlling a Stem Cell's Form Can Determine Its Fate

September 13, 2011

"Form follows function!" was the credo of early 20th century architects making design choices based on the intended use of the structure. Cell biologists may be...

CNST and MML Researchers Demonstrate an Electrochromic Nanoplasmonic Optical Switch

August 31, 2011

In a recent article in Nano Letters,* CNST researchers describe a new high-contrast, low operating-voltage, electrochemical optical switch that uses a volume of...

Iron 'Veins' Are Secret of Promising New Hydrogen Storage Material

August 30, 2011

With a nod to biology, scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have a new approach to the problem of safely storing hydrogen in...

Researchers Expand Capabilities of Miniature Analyzer for Complex Samples

August 30, 2011

It's not often that someone can claim that going from a positive to a negative is a step forward, but that's the case for a team of scientists from the National...

Micrograph of recession and clumping in gold electrodes

NIST Uncovers Reliability Issues for Carbon Nanotubes in Future Electronics

August 16, 2011

Carbon nanotubes offer big promise in a small package. For instance, these tiny cylinders of carbon molecules theoretically can carry 1,000 times more electric...

Armchair Science: DNA Strands That Select Nanotubes Are First Step to a Practical ‘Quantum Wire’

August 2, 2011

DNA, a molecule famous for storing the genetic blueprints for all living things, can do other things as well. In a new paper,* researchers at the National...

NIST Finds That Ethanol-Loving Bacteria Accelerate Cracking of Pipeline Steels

August 2, 2011

U.S. production of ethanol for fuel has been rising quickly, topping 13 billion gallons in 2010. With the usual rail, truck and barge transport methods under...

Illustration of nanomechanical measurements

Nanomechanics: New Test Measures Key Properties of Polymer Thin Films and Membranes

July 19, 2011

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have demonstrated a measurement technique that reliably determines three fundamental...

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