News and Updates

Displaying 1 - 25 of 123

NIST Scientists Use DNA Origami on a Chip to Detect Biomolecules

October 17, 2024

Using strands of DNA to create miniature hinges that pop open or shut when binding to specific molecules, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and

MMSD Staff Release Version 5.2 of SRD31, Phase Equilibria Diagrams (PED)

September 25, 2024

The third Series-5 release of SRD31 is now commercially available and provides users with processing information for more than 200 material systems not

View from near ceiling shows NCNR guide hall filled with big pieces of scientific equipment, including several long cylindrical "guides" running toward the far end of the room.

New Report Highlights Economic Value of Neutron Science to U.S. Industry

September 5, 2024

Research using neutron beams provides an economic return far larger than the cost of building and operating neutron facilities, according to an economic impact

Tiny New Lasers Fill a Long-Standing Gap in the Rainbow of Visible-Light Colors, Opening New Applications

August 28, 2024

Researchers have created orange, yellow and green lasers tiny enough to fit on a chip.

A New Way of Designing Auxetic Materials

May 30, 2024

Auxetics defy common sense, widening when they’re stretched and narrowing when they’re compressed.

Microwave Detectors and Multiplexing: NIST Researchers Help Astronomers Examine the Early Universe

January 24, 2024

Perched atop a high plateau in Chile’s Atacama Desert, a long-awaited observatory is beginning to take shape: the largest suite of ground-based telescopes

Historical newspaper photo shows a large ship in port with a crack down the center, splitting it almost in half.

Spotlight: The Unfortunate Origin of a NIST Metal Toughness Program Still Going Strong

October 19, 2023

A series of catastrophic failures in U.S. ships during World War II prompted the start of a program still in existence and going strong at NIST.

Twisted Science: NIST Researchers Find a New Quantum Ruler to Explore Exotic Matter

October 5, 2023

A single-atom-thick sheet of carbon known as graphene has remarkable properties on its own, but things can get even more interesting when you stack up multiple

NIST researcher Jared Strait with a prototype hand-held KDFR

MEASURING UP: Kibble Dynamic Force Reference

July 18, 2023

Static force, such as the weight of a person standing motionless on a bathroom scale or the force that an office full of equipment exerts on a high-rise floor

Diagram shows microprojectile as a small ball moving upward through a square of polymer film with camera to the right.

New Laser-Based Method Could Help Scientists Discover New Puncture-Resistant Materials

July 3, 2023

Using tiny laser-launched projectiles and troves of data, scientists can more quickly bridge the gap between a material’s microscopic properties and its real

Jake Benzing wears safety glasses as he bends over to adjust piece of scientific equipment in the lab.

Spotlight: Searching for 3D-Printed Titanium’s Breaking Point With Jake Benzing

May 24, 2023

We have researchers who break stuff so that others can live their lives without stuff breaking down prematurely.

A large hydraulic press machine with vertical columns stands on a platform behind tanks labeled "Nitrogen."

Spotlight: Putting Steel to the Test Under Cryogenic Temperatures

May 24, 2023

How NIST researchers measure the fatigue of high-performance steels used for transporting and storing cryogenic liquids.

NIST Scientists Develop Novel CT Scan Device for Integrated Circuits

April 14, 2023

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and their colleagues have developed a novel tabletop device that takes three

NIST’s NanoFab Reopens its Doors to Universities, Industry, and Research Institutions

April 3, 2023

In the Lilliputian world of nanofabrication, where billions of microscopic circuit elements are sculpted or imprinted on a fingernail-sized silicon chip

Sounding Out a New Way to Measure Gas Flow

March 31, 2023

Researchers at NIST have developed a new — and sound — way to accurately measure the rate at which gas flows in and out of a vessel. The technique, which uses

Chip Circuit for Light Could Be Applied to Quantum Computations

January 3, 2023

The ability to transmit and manipulate the smallest unit of light, the photon, with minimal loss, plays a pivotal role in optical communications as well as

Molecules Have an Orientation, and Scientists Have a New Way to Measure It

December 8, 2022

Molecular orientation is key to designing better materials.

Black and white micrograph shows tiny white panels standing parallel to form small squares on a dark background.

Spotlight: Zebra-Striped Structures to Twist Neutrons and Extend Researchers’ Vision

November 22, 2022

What are these microscopic zebra-striped squares, and why did scientists painstakingly arrange more than 6 million of them on a silicon plate just half a

Research on the Rocks: Combining Neutrons and X-Ray Imaging, NIST Scientists Study Meteorites to Explore the Mystery of How Earth Acquired Its Water

November 3, 2022

Each year, hundreds of meteorites — rocky bodies left over from the formation of the solar system — bombard Earth, delivering minerals, metals and water to our

Materials characterization