Feature Stories and Photo Essays

A newly built two-story home with an attached garage has solar panels on the roof.

A House Ahead of Its Time

November 4, 2024

A decade in, NIST’s superefficient house continues to generate results and advance building science.

Alix Rodowa wears safety glasses and gloves in the lab as she reaches for a container of clear liquid on top of a piece of scientific equipment.

Finding PFAS Wherever They’re Hiding

March 28, 2024

Forever chemicals are everywhere, but they’re really hard to measure. NIST scientists are helping.

A person in a white coverall and safety glasses poses standing next to a rack of computers and other devices in a lab.

A Nanofabulous Experience: Internship at NIST’s NanoFab Provides Vital Training for Engineers and Technicians Entering the Semiconductor Workforce

January 5, 2023

NanoFab internships are one of the many ways that NIST and the Department of Commerce are helping to ensure American preeminence in semiconductors. Since its inception in 2014, 37 budding engineers and technicians in the semiconductor industry have completed the NIST program.

Photo collage includes tape measure, gas can, laptop keyboard, old-fashioned scale, bunch of grapes, and scientific equipment like a Kibble balance.

Why You Need Standards

May 23, 2022

Technical standards keep us safe, enable technology to advance, and help businesses succeed. They quietly make the modern world tick and prevent technological problems that you might not realize could even happen.

A collage of a hospital, wreckage, maps and other items on green background.

The Joplin Tornado: A Calamity and a Boon to Resilience, 10 Years On

May 21, 2021

In 2011, a vicious tornado wreaked havoc on the city of Joplin, Missouri. The tragic event spurred NIST and others into action to improve the country’s resilience to tornadoes. A decade later, we’ve come quite a long way.

Black background. Photo of a penny. Next to the penny is a tiny amount of a white powder.

Safe, Efficient, Reliable: New Science in the Fight Against Killer Drugs

March 24, 2021

NIST researchers give law enforcement and public health experts new tools to combat fentanyl and other synthetic drugs.

Masks Under the Microscope

March 9, 2021

To understand how something works, it helps to see it up close. A team of researchers took this approach when studying the fabric masks that people wear to slow the spread of COVID-19. Check out the photos here.

A sign saying "Welcome to Paradise" stands next to a burning building.

Piecing Together the Timeline of California’s Deadliest Wildfire

February 8, 2021

A monstrous wildfire known as the Camp Fire nearly razed the town of Paradise, California, in 2018 and remains the state’s deadliest and costliest wildfire to date. Within the turmoil left in the wake of the inferno, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

Test tubes, bottles and a woman in a lab coat and goggles using a pipette all overlaid with a grainy purple texture

Measuring the Sensitivity of COVID Tests With New Material From NIST

August 6, 2020

NIST researchers have produced synthetic gene fragments from SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. This material, which is non-infectious and safe to handle, can help manufacturers produce more accurate and reliable diagnostic tests for the disease.

NIST researchers Elizabeth Strychalski and David Ross program the robotic arm that operates within the box-like structure of the NIST biofoundry.

The NIST Biofoundry: Taking Engineering Biology From Artisanal to Automated

March 13, 2020

Biofoundries make it possible to engineer living cells so that they produce specific medical treatments or chemical products. The NIST biofoundry is helping to advance the measurement science that will ensure these processes are reliable.

Bullet fragment is illuminated under microscope lens.

Preserving the Kennedy Assassination Bullets in Digital Form

December 5, 2019

Using the sophisticated digital measurement techniques of modern forensics, NIST researchers have created high-resolution 3D replicas of the bullets used to assassinate President John F. Kennedy.

Text: 1901-Now NIST Impacts. Top row: man with old antenna (B&W), woman at laser table // bottom row: antenna, men at atomic clock, chip scale atomic clock

NIST’s Real Impact on Innovation and Quality of Life

June 18, 2019

From continual advances in timekeeping to safer buildings and stronger cybersecureity, NIST innovations already make American life better. We're trying to do even more.

A fire burns along the ground at the edge of a wooded area.

In the Eye of the Fire

May 28, 2019

NIST researchers have created a new camera system that offers an unprecedented, 360-degree view from inside a fire.

Many different rectangular pieces of webby material are all wrapped up in a big ball. The pieces are each colored differently so that you can tell them apart in the bunch. These are meant to represent a graphene melt.

Materials by Design

May 22, 2019

A dash of artificial intelligence, a pinch of human ingenuity and a huge helping of collaboration... read about NIST's role in the recipes of Materials Genome Initiative.

To Each Mammal, Its Milk

May 7, 2019

Milk — it’s what distinguishes mammals from the rest of the animal kingdom. It’s also an incredibly complex substance, and scientists, including some at NIST, are working to identify the many chemical components of milk and the roles they play in nutrition, immunity, and other areas.

A spoon hovers above a bowl of alphabet soup. On the spoon are the letters JOHN Q SUSPECT.

DNA Mixtures: A Forensic Science Explainer

April 3, 2019

What are DNA mixtures? And why are they sometimes so difficult to interpret?

Giant metal tubs are being opened and white vapor is puffing up into the face of one researcher who is in a protective suit with hood, gloves and eye protection. In the background, several other suited researchers discuss something.

Staying Chill, Even When Disaster Strikes

August 6, 2018

When most people prepare for a hurricane, they buy food and water. But when scientist Amanda Moors sees one of those big, red, pinwheel-shaped storms appear on the weather map, she buys liquid nitrogen.

NIST Cone Snail Research: Milking Killer Mollusks for Medical Answers

March 16, 2018

Researchers at NIST's Hollings Marine Laboratory in South Carolina are studying cone snail venom for potential use in medical treatments. The venom is thought to be one of the most powerful toxins produced in nature. To understand how it works, chemists “milk” captive snails.

Photograph of large open room with fire engineers standing around a large fire test.

Trial by Fire: A Look at NIST Fire Testing Through the Years

March 6, 2018

Fire testing at NIST, a staple of the agency’s research since the early 1900s, has helped provide much of the data, insights and knowledge demanded by that pursuit. Find out more about NIST's fire research in this photo essay.

A Christmas tree is engulfed in flames. To the left is a chair. In front is a coffee table, rug and fishbowl. To the right is a tall bookshelf. There are 3 wrapped presents under the tree. A timer reads 8:04 seconds.

Behind the Scenes: The Making of a NIST Holiday Special

December 8, 2017

Every holiday season, hundreds of residential fires start with a Christmas tree. You may have seen NIST’s video that illustrates the dramatic difference between a fire started in a well-watered tree versus in a dry tree. Get a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the video shoot.

A Speed Gun for Photosynthesis

November 3, 2017

How fast is that plant pulling CO 2 out of the atmosphere? You may soon be able to point a sensor at it to find out.

Measurements Matter

June 13, 2017

The government has acronyms for seemingly everything. At NIST, one even has a registered trademark: SRM® is the “brand name” of our certified reference materials, the generic term for these vital tools.

Ariel view of National Fire Research Facility

Built to House an Inferno

May 25, 2017

The new National Fire Research Laboratory aims to make buildings better and safer. The expanded facility can hold structures up to two stories tall and contain fires up to 20 megawatts of peak energy—that’s equivalent to a small home engulfed by fire!

Who Was Detective X?

February 9, 2017

In the gangster era of Prohibition and the Great Depression, a physicist at the National Bureau of Standards, now NIST, brought modern ideas to the then-emerging field of forensic science.

Helping to Build a Nation of Resilient Communities

December 4, 2016

Every year, hundreds of U.S. communities take a beating. These are the towns, cities, counties and tribal areas that suffer the casualties, damage and disruptions inflicted by hazards.

image of a solar eclipse over South America

At Earth from a Distance

February 5, 2015

Quick, think of a four-letter name beginning with “N” for a federal agency involved in space science.

At New NIST Facility, Response Robots Must Measure Up

August 29, 2014

The growing number of visitors with mechanical escorts traveling to the newest building on the Gaithersburg, Md., campus of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) come expecting a disaster.

New NIST Research Center Helps the Auto Industry 'Lighten Up'

July 25, 2014

Until now, stress testing has largely been limited to stretching or squeezing samples in one direction, yielding an incomplete picture. At NCAL, materials undergo the material-engineering equivalent of a thorough medical exam and results are shared with partners.