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News from California

Groups of people sit or lie in a parking lot surrounded by low buildings as fires burn in the forest beyond.

NIST Issues New Guidance for Emergency Response During Wildfires

August 23, 2023

Lessons learned from the 2018 Camp Fire in California include strategies for protecting lives when there is not enough time to safely evacuate all residents.

AI Can Accurately Predict Potentially Fatal Cardiac Events in Firefighters

July 11, 2023

Training a machine-learning model with real-life data from firefighters was key.

New Tiny Atomic Beam Clock Could Bring Stable Timing to Places GPS Can’t Reach

June 21, 2023

A new type of miniature atomic clock could provide better timing over the span of weeks and months compared with current systems.

Photo shows a NIST firefighter on standby watching a shed burn next to a target structure representing a wall of a residence during an experiment.

For Sheds in Wildfire Zones, NIST Researchers Determine How Close Is Too Close to Home

June 1, 2023

How far away do sheds need to be located to significantly limit fire spread to homes? New research led by NIST has begun to provide important answers.

A man wears a virtual reality headset in front of a large projection screen with red and green graphics.

NIST Announces Winners of the CommanDING Tech Challenge

April 3, 2023

GAITHERSBURG, Md. — The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has announced the winners of the final phase of the

A yellow buoy with a red base floats in the sea under a blue sky.

Ocean Color System Gets a ‘Refresh,’ Allowing for More Precise and Accurate Measurements

January 3, 2023

NIST, NOAA and other partners have collaborated on an upgrade to an ocean-color sensor called the Marine Optical Buoy, or MOBY.

In-Person Training for Mulch and Soil Testing at the WWMA Annual Meeting

September 27, 2022

Now that we are attending meetings in-person again, this presents an opportunity for OWM staff to provide some of our training directly to our stakeholders

NIST Awards Funding to Small Businesses to Advance Technologies for COVID Response, Manufacturing, Medical Diagnostics and More

September 20, 2022

NIST has awarded more than $7 million in funding to 23 U.S. small businesses in 14 states.

NIST Awards Funding for Educational Programs on a Circular Economy to Reduce Plastic Waste

September 20, 2022

Five universities have each been awarded $500,000 to develop new curricula for students who are interested in helping to solve the growing problem of plastic

Over 20,000 Propane Cylinders Tested Nationwide!

June 29, 2022

In the summer of 2021, the NIST Office of Weights and Measures (OWM) partnered with the National Conference on Weights and Measures (NCWM) and States to develop