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Justyna Zwolak poses for a casual photo outdoors on the NIST campus.

Marie Skłodowska-Curie: A Legacy of Innovation and Empowerment for Women in Science

February 12, 2025

Growing up in a country where the first scientist to win a Nobel Prize was a woman helped inspire a NIST researcher to pursue her career in science.

Peter Beaucage wears safety glasses as he stands in the lab, holding a piece of equipment on display.

Robots and AI Are Working Together to Bring You Better Medicines, Shampoo and More

December 19, 2024

Peter Beaucage

Products you use every day are carefully formulated in a lab. Experts at NIST are now working to revolutionize how those products are made.

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 16, 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

May 9, 2024

Alex Boss

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 3, 2024

Bradley Sutliff

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

March 18, 2024

George Caceres

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

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

January 18, 2024

Miral Dizdaroglu

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 4, 2024

Kate Beers

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 lives.

A man faces away from the camera, gesturing as he speaks to three actors seated behind desks on a film set.

Standing Up for Scientific Integrity: A Q&A With Writer-Director José Ricardo García on the New Film ‘The AD-X2 Controversy’

December 7, 2023

In the 1950s, scientific integrity was put into question by a packet of salt. That controversy is the center of a new NIST film.

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

August 24, 2023

Miral Dizdaroglu

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 before eating it?

Kandice Taylor, in safety glasses, laughs as she pours liquids into a glass flask that is overflowing with foam.

I’m Helping My Garden Vegetables — and My Students — Bloom Where They Are Planted

August 10, 2023

Kandice Taylor

Middle school is the perfect time to plant the seed for a child to grow a lifelong love of science.

Peter Trask sits at a lab table working on wiring for a scientific device.

My Lab Helps People Breathe Easier All Over the World

June 12, 2023

Peter Trask

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

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

April 24, 2023

Melissa Phillips

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 things) is what we do best here at NIST.

A neon sign that reads Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas is lit up in neon in front of a sunset scene.

When Neon Was New: How NIST Researchers Helped America Discover the Iconic Neon Sign

March 23, 2023

While it’s now largely faded into history, NIST researchers helped America discover the wonders of the neon sign.

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

February 28, 2023

Edward Sisco

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.

Collage includes four historical photos of Black men in military and office attire on background of gold, green, black and red.

From the Space Shuttle to Structural Engineering, NIST’s Tuskegee Airmen Left a Lasting Legacy in Service and Science

February 3, 2023

Megan King

Four of these men are now known to have continued their careers at NBS, though colleagues at the time didn’t know about their co-workers’ historic past.

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 23, 2022

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

Ming Zheng stands outside smiling and holding a model of a nanotube made of a lattice of smaller tubes.

To See Life in a Drop of Blood

July 7, 2022

Ming Zheng

A NIST researcher shares his excitement about the promise of a hybrid molecule that can detect disease.

Yellowish blades of kelp are growing under the surface of the water.

Improving Recycling, Tracking Mercury and Analyzing Kelp: A Sample of Eco-Friendly Research Featured on NIST Social Media

June 8, 2022

Riley Wilson

Preserving our planet's health is no small feat, and NIST researchers are tackling the challenge from multiple angles.

Circular economy illustration has a circle with images of a dump, a scientist, a sea turtle, a water bottle.

Waste Not, Want Not: The ‘Circular Economy’ Gives NIST New Opportunities to Help Create a More Environmentally Sound Future

April 20, 2022

Kate Beers

Our program should enable technological solutions that can be scaled up from individual molecules to entire industries across the whole supply chain.

A composite image with stylized framing shows Connie Stanley on the left and John Sligh on the right.

Piecing Together the Profiles of Two NIST Chemists Taken Too Soon

February 15, 2022

Riley Wilson

On April 13, 1975, in the community of Wheaton, Maryland, a lone shooter allegedly targeting Black people wounded five and took the lives of two others over the course of 30 minutes before he was killed by police. The two slain victims, Connie Stanley and John Sligh Jr., were both chemists at NIST

masked woman with glasses, purple gloves, and a labcoat stands next to a large aluminum sample chamber

Detecting the Flavors of Important Elements With Neutron Depth Profiling

November 10, 2021

Jamie L. Weaver

The first five minutes of any presentation I give on neutron depth profiling are usually met with blank stares from my audience. This, I hope, is not something about me, but rather due to the audience’s lack of familiarity with the topic. Neutron depth profiling, which is always shortened to NDP, is

$close up of a clear fractured glass like substance with some rainbow distortions$

Clear as Glass: Studying Drug-Delivery Materials as a NIST SURF Student

October 1, 2021

Claire Lamberti

This summer was an interesting one, to say the least. I was in the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) program offered by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). As my summer project, I studied organic glasses, solid materials composed of molecules that are arranged in

overlapping wavelengths of light enter from the left and pass into the optical frequency comb device. The image shows a visualization of the different wavelengths separated into even increments.

Making Measurements With a Fine-Toothed Comb

September 15, 2021

Rebecca Jacobson

To many people, a measurement sounds mundane, like marking ticks on a ruler or reading the line on a thermometer. It’s a piece of data. And they tend to think that improved measurements look like finer and finer ticks on a ruler — which doesn’t seem very exciting. But making new measurements is more

Woman with a ball cap on petting a reclining cheetah with another cheetah in the background the

Eavesdropping on Hormones to Help Understand Reproduction

July 16, 2021

Erin Legacki

Every vertebrate on the planet has evolved a complex system that uses small molecules called hormones to communicate directives to isolated tissues that impact everything in the body from eating to producing babies. This hormonal communication between tissues is critical during reproductive

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