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Briana Capistran wears safety glasses as she poses smiling in the lab with computers and other equipment in the background.

Speeding Up the Wheels of Justice: How NIST Resources Can Help Crime Labs Work Faster

January 8, 2025

Forensic science is not as easy as it looks on TV. But NIST resources are helping crime labs examine evidence more efficiently — so the justice system can work

Two men sit at a table in a lab, facing each other and smiling as they talk and gesture toward their computer screens.

Can Nanotechnology Help Solve Climate Change?

October 9, 2024

When we think about the climate crisis, we tend to think big. But two NIST researchers are thinking of small ways to help our planet — as in technology 1,000

A researcher wearing safety gear kneels at the open door of a lab fridge, displaying a tray of samples.

Sinking Our Teeth Into Science: How Biomedical Engineering Can Help Make Us Healthier

September 4, 2024

From safer dental products to tracking the movement of tiny plastics through gut tissues, regenerative medicine can make us healthier.

NIST researchers Elizabeth Strychalski and David Ross program the robotic arm that operates within the box-like structure of the NIST biofoundry.

The Promise of Synthetic Cells: Revolutionary New Drugs, Outer Space Explorers and Pushing Beyond the Limits of Evolution

July 31, 2024

Scientists are getting closer to creating a living cell from scratch. It could help treat diseases or even create life forms that can be better adapted to space

You Don’t Learn This in School: My Experience as a NIST Summer Intern

July 10, 2024

The most important thing I remember from being a NIST intern last summer is the power of persistence in research.

Your Future Medications Could Be Personalized for You on a 3D Printer

June 12, 2024

Your future medications could be made on a 3D printer, and a NIST researcher is working to make sure that process is safe.

NIST biomedical engineer Laurie Locascio places a water sample on a highly sensitive, inexpensive "lab-on-a-chip"

One of NIST’s Most Prolific Inventors Is Also Our Director — and She’s Still an Inventor at Heart

May 22, 2024

Before she was the director of NIST, Laurie E. Locascio invented materials that make us healthier.

Four people sitting outside on a green tarp wear eclipse glasses as they peer up into the sky.

NIST Researchers Measure Greenhouse Gases During the Solar Eclipse

June 5, 2024

Check out some of the things happening at NIST during the past few months through the lens of social media.

Brad Sutliff wears safety glasses as he stands in the lab in front of a computer monitor.

From Trash to Cash: How AI and Machine Learning Can Help Make Recycling Less Expensive for Local Governments

May 15, 2024

Can AI help us recycle better? A NIST researcher is working to make that happen.

George Caceres wears safety glasses and a lab coat as he looks at a plastic test tube he is holding.

Measuring Microplastics: To Solve the Problem, We Have to Understand and Measure It

April 17, 2024

My friends sometimes jokingly ask me, “How many microplastics do you think I consumed this week?” Unfortunately, the answer is not zero.

Close-up shows shiny metal patches with areas of green corrosion and open holes.

Houston, We Have the Engine Remnants: How My Lab Pieced Together a Forgotten Part of an Apollo Rocket

March 13, 2024

Like many people, I had dreams of flying into space as an astronaut when I was a child. That interest in aerospace and space exploration has continued

Historical photo shows Henry Moseley sitting at a desk reading a thick book, with other open books on the desk.

Henry Moseley: A Patriotic Scientist Who Changed the Periodic Table — and Then Went Off to War

February 7, 2024

At a young age, physicist Henry Moseley changed the periodic table of the elements — before dying in a bloody World War I battle.

A small orange is packaged in a plastic container with a lid.

A Polymer Scientist Wrestles — Literally and Figuratively — With the Frustrations of Plastic Packaging

January 24, 2024

If you’ve resolved to be a more eco-conscious consumer this year, learn about how NIST’s circular economy lead thinks about plastic packaging in our everyday

Jerilyn Izac sits at a lab bench with her hands inside a plastic shield, using a device to draw liquid from a plastic container into a tube.

How Measurement Science Can Help Protect Us From Viruses

November 29, 2023

Imagine if for the next dangerous virus, we could quickly and easily test everyone’s levels of defenses — known as antibodies.

Diana Ortiz-Montalvo, wearing safety glasses and holding a small circular filter with tweezers, poses with Abigail Lindstrom in the lab.

Microplastics Mystery: Sampling Airborne Microplastics at a Recycling Facility

October 11, 2023

During National Hispanic Heritage Month, a NIST researcher shares how her upbringing in Puerto Rico inspired her to study air quality.

Several metallic envelopes with NIST labels are displayed with Halloween decorations like cobwebs, skeletons and pumpkins.

There Will Be (Precisely Measured) Blood: A Haunted House Tour Through NIST’s Spookiest Reference Materials

October 27, 2023

This spooky season, join us for a haunted house tour of the scariest standard reference materials in our labs.

Miral Dizdaroglu wears safety glasses as he poses in the lab next to an open spectrometer, which looks a little like a microwave with extra buttons.

How We Studied DNA Damage in Cooked Food — and What It Might Mean for Our Health

September 20, 2023

When you eat plants or meat, you’re also eating a tiny amount of that plant or animal’s DNA. But what happens to that plant or animal DNA when you cook the food

Protecting People From Plumbing Pathogens Is Personal to Me

August 16, 2023

Pathogens can get into our water through plumbing and are especially dangerous for people with compromised immune systems.

My Lab Helps People Breathe Easier All Over the World

July 19, 2023

My lab here in Gaithersburg, Maryland, helps agencies all over the world track their pollution levels by measuring them accurately.

Our Human Genes Are Diverse. Our Team Is Helping Create a DNA Reference Library to Reflect That.

May 15, 2023

To unlock the full potential of genetic testing and related medical research, we need a diverse, global human genome, known as the pangenome.

Melissa Phillips, wearing safety glasses, poses leaning over an open chest freezer, holding a plastic bag of spinach.

Organic, Vegetarian or Carnivore: Whatever You Eat, My Lab Is Working to Keep It Safe

May 18, 2023

The levels of contaminants in our food supply are, generally, decreasing, but we still need to make sure our food is safe. And measuring tiny things (and big

Benchy the Boat, Irradiated Mangoes, Quantum Window: A Sample of Stories on NIST Social Media

May 31, 2023

NIST’s research can range from the complex to the downright whimsical, but all the papers published here can trace back to a benefit for everyone in the U.S.

A person in a baseball cap and face mask stands at a computer surrounded by scientific equipment, including a curving black plastic tube.

NIST Partnership Helps Communities Manage Unknown Dangers in Common Street Drugs

March 16, 2023

When you buy a medication at a pharmacy, you know what’s in it. When someone buys street drugs, they have no idea what they’re really getting.

Camila Espina Young poses outdoors for a head shot

Hurricane Maria Recollections, Software Nostalgia, The Brothers Engineering: A Sample of Stories on NIST Social Media

November 9, 2022

The work happening at NIST can often be described as more than simply “work.”

Two women in hiking gear stands at the top of a canyon, which is in the background.

Speeding Up Carbon Capture: A Q&A With NIST Scientist Pamela Chu

August 24, 2022

She explains what NIST is doing to speed up the chemical reactions — and the innovations — that might help slow down climate change.