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Material Measurement Laboratory

News and Updates

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NIST Study Will Help Labs Distinguish Between Hemp and Marijuana

January 14, 2021

Hemp and marijuana both come from the Cannabis plant. But legally, they are very different. If cannabis has less than 0.3% THC — for tetrahydrocannabinol, the...

A red cylinder made of lipids has five protruding multicolored proteins.

NIST Clarifies Structure of Prospective Vaccine for Respiratory Virus

December 16, 2020

No approved vaccine exists for RSV, a life-threatening virus that attacks the respiratory system. State-of-the-art neutron and X-ray scattering performed at the...

A woman wearing safety goggles and a mask poses in front of a cabinet holding vials.

Spotlight: Kathy Peter’s Cross-County Journey Toward NIST Research Into ‘Forever Chemicals’

December 11, 2020

Search, seek and define — NIST postdoctoral researcher Kathy Peter is on a mission to uncover chemical compounds that fall into the category of PFAS (per- and...

Plot graph shows dark purple block at left with areas growing lighter green to the right.

Nanocylinder Vibrations Help Quantify Polymer Curing for 3D Printing

December 10, 2020

In a step toward making more accurate and uniform 3D-printed parts such as personalized prosthetics and dental materials, researchers at the National Institute...

K9 Chemistry: A Safer Way to Train Detection Dogs

December 2, 2020

Trained dogs are incredible chemical sensors, far better at detecting explosives, narcotics and other substances than even the most advanced technological...

An illustration for AI shows a silhouette of a human head containing icons for computer networks.

NIST AI System Discovers New Material

November 24, 2020

When the words “artificial intelligence” (AI) come to mind, your first thoughts may be of super-smart computers, or robots that perform tasks without needing...

New Airflow Videos Show Why Masks With Exhalation Valves Do Not Slow the Spread of COVID-19

November 10, 2020

Many people wear masks in public to slow the spread of COVID-19, as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). However, masks with...

A woman in lab coat, safety glasses and a mask stands at a lab bench weighing samples.

NIST Researchers Advance Efforts to Accurately Measure Glyphosate Pesticide in Common Foods

November 2, 2020

Pesticides help farmers increase food production, reduce costly damage to crops, and even prevent the spread of insect-borne diseases, but since the chemicals...

A woman wearing safety goggles reaches under a scientific device.

Spotlight: Ran Tao's Investigation Into the Flow of Our World

October 27, 2020

To make a difference in the world, understand the flow, but don’t go with it. The work that NIST guest researcher Ran Tao conducts in rheology, the study of how...

A woman (Callie Higgins) stands in front of a piece of photopolymerization equipment.

Spotlight: Callie Higgins Solidifies Her Place in the World of Photopolymerization

October 18, 2020

NIST’s Callie Higgins has found a place for herself in an emerging and largely mysterious field within manufacturing. As a special branch of additive...

Thermal MagIC: New NIST Project to Build Nano-Thermometers Could Revolutionize Temperature Imaging

October 9, 2020

Cheaper refrigerators? Stronger hip implants? A better understanding of human disease? All of these could be possible and more, someday, thanks to an ambitious...

A medical worker administers a nasal swab test to a person in a car.

NIST Innovation Could Improve Detection of COVID-19 Infections

October 5, 2020

A multidisciplinary research team at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has developed a way to increase the sensitivity of the primary...

A man (Zhi Liang) wearing dark safety goggles leans over a table, working with scientific equipment.

Spotlight: Computing the Properties of a Titan Among Manufacturing Materials

September 26, 2020

Improve the material; improve life. NIST postdoctoral researcher Zhi Liang believes the development of humanity depends on the development of materials, and few...

A woman with safety goggles and gloves stands at a lab bench.

A Better Alternative to Phthalates?

September 25, 2020

Detergents, shampoos, soaps and other everyday items sometimes contain a group of chemicals called phthalates, which are often used to enhance products and add...

Spotlight: From the Alaskan Wilderness to the NIST State-of-the-Art Labs

September 25, 2020

Over the course of seven years, recent postdoctoral researcher Michelle Bailey went from spending summers in the Alaskan wilderness to pushing boundaries in...

woman holding a North American Atlantic salmon

Spotlight: The Trek North for Precious Mucus Hormones in Salmon

September 23, 2020

Something smells fishy, and NIST postdoctoral researcher Erin Legacki is on the job to figure out what’s happening. The North American Atlantic salmon has seen...

A glowing purple bar representing the LED is attached to a green surface by a yellow metal contact.

A Light Bright and Tiny: NIST Scientists Build a Better Nanoscale LED

August 14, 2020

A new design for light-emitting diodes (LEDs) developed by a team including scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) may hold the...

Two birds with black heads and white bellies stand on a rock.

Climate Variability May Alter Pollutants in Some Sub-Arctic Birds

August 11, 2020

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and Emory University have discovered that some bird species in the sub-Arctic tend to ingest...

woman stands at mass spectrometer machine

NIST Expands Database That Helps Identify Unknown Compounds in Milk

July 27, 2020

Got milk? Most people have seen the famous ads featuring celebrities that highlight the importance of drinking milk for building strong bones. Research shows...

Green leafy material inside a graduated cylinder.

NIST to Help Labs Achieve Accurate THC, CBD Measurements

July 21, 2020

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has launched a program to help laboratories accurately measure key chemical compounds in marijuana...

Micrograph shows coiled fibers on yellow background with inset of lighter yellow square.

Face Coverings Made From Layered Cotton Fabric Likely Slow the Spread of COVID-19 Better Than Synthetics, New Study Finds

June 29, 2020

Researchers have completed a new study of how well a variety of natural and synthetic fabrics filter particles of a similar size to the virus that causes COVID...

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