An official website of the United States government
Here’s how you know
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock (
) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is now providing a new measurement service that can improve the quality of magnetic resonance imaging...
Accurately detecting, locating and quantifying leaks of methane, the main component of natural gas and a major fuel source worldwide, is critically important...
The Pilot Study — read 2016 article details — was completed in late 2016 and the Final Report was published on the BIPM website in June of 2017. The main...
JILA scientists have invented a new imaging technique that produces rapid, precise measurements of quantum behavior in an atomic clock in the form of near...
Smokestacks at coal-fired power plants have sensors that continuously monitor their emissions by measuring the flow of gases such as carbon dioxide, mercury...
A decade before an iceberg shattered the hull plates of the Titanic and half a century before a plague of brittle fractures started sinking Liberty ships during...
This month, two seminal documents in American history—the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th Amendment to the Constitution— went on display at the...
To calculate a fare, ride-hailing apps rely on mobile devices for determining the vehicle’s movements and travel time, and to access the company’s proprietary...
The National Institute of Standard and Technology (NIST) is home to one of the most sensitive machines in the world for measuring objects’ dimensions...
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has filed a provisional patent application for a microflow measurement system, about the size of a...
Future communications networks that are less vulnerable to hacking could be closer to reality with an invention that measures the properties of single-photon...
Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have invented a new approach to testing multilayered, three-dimensional computer chips...
For more than a decade, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has been unveiling experimental next-generation atomic clocks. These clocks...
Studio photographers may be familiar with the 1,000-watt quartz halogen lamps known as “FELs.” Scientists use them too—specially calibrated ones, at least—to...
An entirely new model of the way electrons are briefly trapped and released in tiny electronic devices suggests that a long-accepted, industry-wide view is just...
Paving the way for transforming the world’s measurement system, an international task force has determined updated values for four fundamental constants of...
Ask most folks what they would need to find planets orbiting distant stars, and very few will list a bottle of iodine. Yet that element plays a vital role in...
The “inconstant moon,” as Shakespeare called it in Romeo and Juliet, is more reliable than his pair of star-crossed lovers might have thought. Now researchers...
The Denver Post recently ran a front-page story about drones (unmanned aerial vehicles) and their many useful, emerging applications. According to the article,...
If you’re wondering when a hydrogen-powered car will become a viable option for you, take heart. A team including scientists at the National Institute of...
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...
BOULDER, Colo.—Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have demonstrated a potential new tactic for rapidly determining whether...
NIST scientists have achieved a world record in detecting the intensity of an ultra-faint source of light, equaling the capabilities of the deep-space...
In our everyday lives, pressure can mean a looming work deadline, a final exam, or bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth. In scientific terms, pressure is a...