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https://www.nist.gov/feature-stories
Feature Stories and Photo Essays
As the nation’s laboratory for measurement science, standards and technology, NIST has stimulated U.S. innovation and economic competitiveness through its world-class work in many areas of national importance. The following features provide big-picture views of the many research fields that NIST has helped to advance.
A House Ahead of Its Time
A decade in, NIST’s superefficient house continues to generate results and advance building science.
Finding PFAS Wherever They’re Hiding
Forever chemicals are everywhere, but they’re really hard to measure. NIST scientists are helping.
A Nanofabulous Experience: Internship at NIST’s NanoFab Provides Vital Training for Engineers and Technicians Entering the Semiconductor Workforce
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.
Why You Need Standards
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.
The Joplin Tornado: A Calamity and a Boon to Resilience, 10 Years On
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.
Safe, Efficient, Reliable: New Science in the Fight Against Killer Drugs
NIST researchers give law enforcement and public health experts new tools to combat fentanyl and other synthetic drugs.
Masks Under the Microscope
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.
Piecing Together the Timeline of California’s Deadliest Wildfire
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)
Measuring the Sensitivity of COVID Tests With New Material From NIST
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.
The NIST Biofoundry: Taking Engineering Biology From Artisanal to Automated
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.
Preserving the Kennedy Assassination Bullets in Digital Form
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.
NIST’s Real Impact on Innovation and Quality of Life
From continual advances in timekeeping to safer buildings and stronger cybersecurity, NIST innovations already make American life better. We're trying to do even more.
In the Eye of the Fire
NIST researchers have created a new camera system that offers an unprecedented, 360-degree view from inside a fire.
Materials by Design
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
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.
DNA Mixtures: A Forensic Science Explainer
What are DNA mixtures? And why are they sometimes so difficult to interpret?
Staying Chill, Even When Disaster Strikes
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
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.
Trial by Fire: A Look at NIST Fire Testing Through the Years
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.
Behind the Scenes: The Making of a NIST Holiday Special
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
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
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.
Built to House an Inferno
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?
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
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.
At Earth from a Distance
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
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'
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.