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A researcher in a lab coat and safety glasses poses next to a large piece of lab equipment.

The Insulation That Melts in Your Walls — and Could Reduce Your Energy Costs

January 30, 2025

Wherever humans go, we take some form of insulation with us to keep us at just the right temperature. But just because the idea is old doesn’t mean that there haven’t been innovations. One of those innovations could lower your energy costs.

A man in safety gear crouches to examine a damaged wall inside a building after an earthquake.

The Highs and Lows of Studying the Aftermath of One of Turkey’s Deadliest Earthquakes

October 16, 2023

Matthew Speicher

Our goal at NIST is to not only document and learn from disasters, but to also spur innovation and make recommendations to help lessen the impact of the next disaster.

Jeffrey Fong poses smiling in front of a railing overlooking a concrete dam.

My Journey From Designing Dams to Helping Structures Live Their Longest Lives

August 2, 2022

Jeffrey T. Fong

Jeffrey Fong writes about how his personal drive for safe engineering design led him to work at NIST.

The Test of Time: NIST’s Wall of Many Stones

January 10, 2018

Jason Stoughton

Frequented by more deer than people, the NIST stone test wall lives a fairly isolated existence. Out among the trees and the grass on the south end of the Gaithersburg, Maryland, campus, it cuts an imposing and visually bizarre figure. Set in the mortar of its technicolor face are more than 2,000

A Smart Window to Sustainable Development: A Scientist’s Story

December 1, 2016

Martin Green

I think curiosity is at the root of all scientific careers. That, and insecurity. In my formative years, I felt compelled to assign a rational explanation to everything. I didn’t know it then, but I was practicing to be a scientist—and having lots of fun. I remember entertaining numerous