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Taking Measure

Just a Standard Blog

Physics

Top 7 NIST Visuals of 2019

Science, while important, is often thought of as, well, kind of dry in the ocular department. The visuals commonly associated with scientific endeavors are

Top 6 NIST News Stories of 2019

Measurement is a subject that touches upon just about everything, from the food we eat and the medicines we take to our investigations of the fundamental

Top 5 NIST Blog Posts of 2019

It’s December, and that means it’s time for us to reflect on the past year, and what a year it was! This year tens of thousands of people tuned into the

Unboxing a New Spin-Triplet Superconductor

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

Top NIST Images of 2018

There’s nothing quite like a captivating image to make you want to learn more. And nowhere is that more apparent than when it comes to sometimes hard-to

What, Then, Is Time?

When asked to contribute an essay on some aspect of timekeeping, I had a flashback to the first day of my senior year in high school in Princeton, New Jersey

A Massive Bet: The Planck Napkin

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

More Power to You, Wonder Woman!

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

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

What Debbie Jin Meant to Me

NIST/JILA Fellow Debbie Jin died of cancer on Sept. 15, 2016, at the age of 47. One of the most prominent researchers at NIST, she won many science awards

The Magnetic Allure of Superconductivity

One of my favorite things about being a condensed matter physicist is how broadly defined the subject is. There are lots of interesting phenomena begging for

Taking a Seat at the Periodic Table

In case you haven’t already heard, if you wanted to give your loved one that special, once-in-a-lifetime gift by naming one of the elements in row 7 of the

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About this blog

Taking Measure is the official blog of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

It provides a behind-the-scenes look at NIST’s research and programs, covering a broad range of science and technology areas. Through this blog, NIST’s researchers and staff share why they do what they do and how today’s research will lead to tomorrow’s innovations.

The views presented here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views or policies of NIST.

If you have any questions about our blog or reprint requests, please contact us at takingmeasure [at] nist.gov (takingmeasure[at]nist[dot]gov).