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Taking Measure

Just a Standard Blog

Electronics

How Extreme Ultraviolet Light Helps Give Us Smarter Smartphones and Stronger Satellites

April 21, 2020

In 2019, after decades of effort, manufacturers used a new technology to create smartphones with individual circuit features as small as 7 nanometers (nm), or

Answering the Call: How NIST Helps Crime Labs Recover Evidence from Mobile Devices

April 14, 2020

Everyone has a phone these days, even the bad guys. To try to get away with their crimes, lawbreakers sometimes attempt to destroy their phones and the evidence

Unboxing a New Spin-Triplet Superconductor

November 19, 2019

Nature often reveals itself in surprising ways, so scientists, who study nature, have a lot of opportunities to be surprised. Over the past year and a half, I

a stylized rendering of the periodic table

The Periodic Table: It's More than Just Chemistry and Physics

May 28, 2019

This is the International Year of the Periodic Table, and while I’ve been (accurately) accused of being a physics fanboy, I’m here to tell you that this famous

The 'Gang of Five' and the SI Revolution

May 20, 2019

Although I grew up in Brooklyn, New York, I was never a gang member there. My gang membership came much later and in an entirely unexpected way. No, more

What To Do When Measurement Methods Produce Different Answers

April 2, 2019

What are you looking to measure? This is one of the central questions for a metrologist (a measurement scientist) and is usually answered before measurements

For All Times, For All Peoples: How Replacing the Kilogram Empowers Industry

November 27, 2018

Two unusual things happened on Nov. 16, 2018. Fifty-four nations from every continent (except Antarctica) agreed on something, and metrology, the science of

Reason and Measurement, Suits and Ties: My Personal Journey to the New SI

October 30, 2018

On Nov. 16, 2018, the General Conference on Weights and Measures, the governing body of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures, will hold a gathering

An Invention in Focus: When Science Gets Real

June 18, 2018

As a research scientist, I often face a difficult problem when discussing my work with family or friends. Everyone seems initially fascinated that I am a

Image of a napkin that has written on it the names of researchers involved in the project and their guesses for the value of Planck's Constant

A Massive Bet: The Planck Napkin

August 25, 2017

So, a bunch of metrologists walk into a bar. In late December 2013, a group of NIST researchers met at the local watering hole across the street from NIST’s

‘W’eird Signals: Listening in on the Eclipse

August 15, 2017

Two years ago, I had never heard of the WWVB radio station. Today, it’s one of my favorites, but that’s not because it broadcasts a pleasant mix of Top 40 hits

More Power to You, Wonder Woman!

June 16, 2017

First, let me say that I’m totally energized by the good press my dear acquaintance Wonder Woman has been receiving lately. It’s absolutely electrifying to see

Unidentified Museum Objects, Vol. I

June 14, 2017

Right now, the NIST museum in Gaithersburg, Maryland, is displaying a glass globe the size of a large beach ball. When visitors first come upon it, they’re not

Revolution by Design: The Materials Genome Initiative

August 17, 2016

The creation of a new material has long been either an accident or a matter of trial and error. Steel, for instance, was developed over hundreds of years by

Ida Rhodes and the Problem with ‘Water Goats’

March 16, 2016

As a professional reference librarian and amateur history buff at NIST, I have had the opportunity to become acquainted with all kinds of extraordinary

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