Chemistry

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.

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

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 13, 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.

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 30, 2023

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

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.

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

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

April 26, 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

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.

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.

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 13, 2022

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 15, 2022

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

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

April 22, 2022

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

Piecing Together the Profiles of Two NIST Chemists Taken Too Soon

February 16, 2022

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

Detecting the Flavors of Important Elements With Neutron Depth Profiling

November 17, 2021

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

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

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

October 6, 2021

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

Making Measurements With a Fine-Toothed Comb

September 22, 2021

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

Creating a PFAS-Contaminated Meat SRM: A Q&A With NIST Chemists Melissa Phillips and Ben Place

June 23, 2021

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) research chemists Melissa Phillips and Ben Place are working to create a Standard Reference Material (SRM)

50 Years of the ‘Journal of Physical and Chemical Reference Data’: A Q&A With Editors Allan Harvey and Don Burgess

June 16, 2021

Reference data’s connection to the public is indirect yet often very important. For example, a town’s electricity could come from a steam power plant in which

Fundamental Constants Are the Future of Measurement. Can They Replace Artifacts for Measuring Isotopes?

May 11, 2021

In an essay titled “ The end of artefacts, ” Nobel laureate and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) fellow William D. Phillips details how

Improving Forensic Chemistry: A Q&A With NIST's Ed Sisco

May 5, 2021

Ed Sisco has been a research chemist within the Surface and Trace Chemical Analysis Group at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) since

NIST Lends a Hand to Hand-Sanitizer Manufacturers

March 18, 2021

Like everyone on the planet, our organization, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), became concerned with the COVID-19 outbreak in March

From 1901 to 2021: Measurements Then and Now

March 3, 2021

A lot has changed at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in the past 120 years. For one thing, we were known as the National Bureau of

NIST Radioactivity Measurements Get the Ball Rolling for New Cancer Therapies

February 18, 2021

From the earliest days of radioactivity research, radiation and cancer therapy have gone together like peas and carrots. But Zach Levine covered peas and

The NIST Summer Undergraduate Fellowship Program Goes Virtual

February 2, 2021

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) designed the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Program to inspire undergraduate students

NIST Gets Going With the Flow Cytometry Standards Consortium

January 27, 2021

Advances in cell and gene therapies are revolutionizing health care by providing curative treatments for previously untreatable diseases. To help develop

Atlantic Salmon Hormones, Trapping Molecular Ions, Lasers for Greenhouse Gas Measurements: Postdocs Share Their Stories on NIST Social Media

January 19, 2021

As the Feb. 1, 2021 deadline approaches for early-career researchers to join the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) National Research Council

Need Some Good News? NIST’s 2020 Highlights

December 22, 2020

2020 has been a challenging year, but we at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have worked as hard as we can to fulfill our mission for

NIST Charleston researchers Ashley Boggs-Russell (sitting) and Amanda Moors (standing) work with researchers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Marine Mammal Foundation to process tissue samples during veterinary assessments of wild bottlenose dolphins in the Gulf of Mexico following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. No dolphins were harmed in this process.

Tracking Hormones on Land and at Sea

October 15, 2020

It’s usually pretty straightforward to explain how my work on clinical measurements is a benefit to society, but sometimes I get confused looks when I tell

Taking Measure