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Chemistry

News and Updates

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NIST Scientists Discover How to Switch Liver Cancer Cell Growth from 2-D to 3-D Structures

November 15, 2017

Paving the way for testing experimental drugs in more realistic environments, scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have...

It’s All About the Mix

October 24, 2017

A marriage between 3-D printer plastic and a versatile material for detecting and storing gases could lead to inexpensive sensors and fuel cell batteries alike...

Person holding wallet card showing the values of fundamental constants being used for revising the International System of Units, the modern metric system.

Bringing the World Closer to Revised Measurement System, Scientists Update Four Key Fundamental Constants

October 23, 2017

Paving the way for transforming the world’s measurement system, an international task force has determined updated values for four fundamental constants of...

How the Cone Snail’s Deadly Venom Can Help Us Build Better Medicines

October 10, 2017

Cone snails have inspired humans for centuries. Coastal communities have often traded their beautiful shells like money and put them in jewelry. Many artists...

Lighting a Path to 'Smarter' Homes, Roads, and Bridges

September 27, 2017

If you’re worried about carbon monoxide poisoning, you might purchase a detector for your home. But what if your house itself could sense carbon monoxide and...

Small Wonder

September 25, 2017

NIST helps semiconductor manufacturers—who are under continual pressure to make smaller, faster computer chips—reduce the time required to develop new...

Atomic-Scale Movies Reveal That Catalyst Nanoparticles Undergo Internal Changes to Forge Carbon Nanotubes

September 20, 2017

Lights, camera, catalysis! Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have made some of the first movies of the structural...

photo of brass-colored measuring instrument

New Method for Identifying Carbon Compounds Derived from Fossil Fuels

September 12, 2017

Scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a laboratory instrument that can measure how much of the carbon in many...

Image of a research platform that can report oceanographic and atmospheric data via satellite.

NIST Publishes 2016 Department of Commerce Laboratories Technology Transfer Report

September 11, 2017

GAITHERSBURG, Md.—The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has published the U.S. Commerce Department’s (DOC) 2016 Annual Report on Technology...

Scientists Lay the Groundwork for a Reliable Marijuana Breathalyzer

July 5, 2017

Marijuana is now legal for recreational or medicinal use in at least 28 states and the District of Columbia. But driving under the influence of marijuana is...

NIST/CU Team Launches ‘Comb and Copter’ System to Map Atmospheric Gases

June 23, 2017

Researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Colorado Boulder have demonstrated a new mobile, ground-based...

Woman uses gas analysis mass spectrometer at NBS for chemical analysis of gas or vapor mixtures

NIST Upgrades Widely Used Database of Molecular 'Fingerprints'

June 6, 2017

When scientists need to identify an unknown compound, they do what a police detective might do. They get fingerprints—in this case, the “molecular fingerprints”...

Illustration of laser cooling motion of atomic ion

NIST Physicists Find a Way to Control Charged Molecules – with Quantum Logic

May 10, 2017

BOULDER, Colo.—National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) physicists have solved the seemingly intractable puzzle of how to control the quantum...

diagram of amantadine hydrochloride structure

New NIST Data to Aid Production and Storage of 'Fascinating' Medication

May 2, 2017

Amantadine hydrochloride may be the most common medication you’ve never heard of. This compound has been around for decades as the basis for antiviral and other...

Turning Back Time: Watching Rust Transform into Iron

April 4, 2017

Using a state-of-the-art microscopy technique, experimenters at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and their colleagues have witnessed a...

Graphene Lid Revitalizes Imaging Technique

March 31, 2017

By capping liquids with graphene, an ultrathin sheet of pure carbon, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and their...

Climate-Friendlier Air Conditioning Chemicals Hard to Find, Study Shows

February 23, 2017

In response to a recently published study in Nature Communications about options for low-global-warming-potential refrigerants from NIST, Inside Climate News...

NIST Quest for Climate-Friendly Refrigerants Finds Complicated Choices

February 17, 2017

BOULDER, Colo. – Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have just completed a multiyear study to identify the “best”...

Illustration of setup for separating nanoparticles from organisms

NIST Updates ‘Sweet’ 1950s Separation Method to Clean Nanoparticles from Organisms

January 26, 2017

Sometimes old-school methods provide the best ways of studying cutting-edge tech and its effects on the modern world. Giving a 65-year-old laboratory technique...

NIST Research Enables Enhanced DNA “Fingerprints”

December 15, 2016

As the new year approaches, forensic labs across the country are gearing up for a big change in the way they generate DNA profiles, the genetic fingerprints so...

New Arsenic Sensor Prize Challenge

December 14, 2016

The Bureau of Reclamation has launched phase one of the Arsenic Sensor Challenge. Arsenic in water can affect human health and limit water supplies. NIST...

Universe’s Constants Now Known with Sufficient Certainty to Completely Redefine the International System of Units

November 22, 2016

Fundamental constants are physical quantities that are universal in nature. For example, the speed of light in vacuum and the charge of a single electron are...

pocket-sized anthrax bacteria detector device

Anthrax Detector, 3-D Endoscope Among Highlights of Latest NIST Tech Transfer Report

October 27, 2016

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has released the Federal Laboratory Technology Transfer, Fiscal Year 2014, Summary Report to the...

JILA Team Spots Elusive Intermediate Compound in Atmospheric Chemistry

October 27, 2016

BOULDER, Colo.-- JILA physicists and colleagues have identified a long-missing piece in the puzzle of exactly how fossil fuel combustion contributes to air...

Harmful Algal Blooms in Their True Colors

August 26, 2016

Explosive growth of cyanobacteria, also called blue-green algae, is nothing new. In fact, such cyanobacteria probably produced the original oxygen in Earth's...

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