NIST

An agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce

Founded in 1901, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is a nonregulatory federal agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce. With headquarters in Gaithersburg, Maryland, NIST’s mission is to promote U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing measurement science, standards, and technology in ways that enhance economic security and improve our quality of life.

Wed, 10/29/2025 - 12:03
New Spectrometry Standard for Handheld Chemical Detectors Aids First Responders Corrects output from different handheld Raman spectrometers to give uniform results
Mon, 10/28/2013 - 16:31
When it comes to detectors for dangerous chemicals, toxins, or nefarious germs, smaller and faster is better. But size and speed must still allow for accuracy, especially when measurements by different instruments must give the same result. The…
NIST Measures Laser Power with Portable Scale Technique allows measuring of high-powered laser while in use
Wed, 10/23/2013 - 09:46
Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have demonstrated a novel method for measuring laser power by reflecting the light off a mirrored scale, which behaves as a force detector. Although it may sound odd, the…
Air Conditioner ‘Evolves’ in Novel NIST Study Computer-generated design that mimics laws of evolution yields a 3-percent gain in overall performance
Thu, 09/05/2013 - 13:42

Played out on a computer over hundreds of generations, a survival-of-the-fittest programming method adapted by National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) researchers has spawned, of all things, the design for a more efficient…
NIST Ytterbium Atomic Clocks Set Record for Stability Perfect timing, forever
Wed, 09/04/2013 - 09:41
A pair of experimental atomic clocks based on ytterbium atoms at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has set a new record for stability. The clocks act like 21st-century pendulums or metronomes that could swing back and forth…
Next-Generation Strategy Engineering a workforce tailored to your business goals
Wed, 08/28/2013 - 13:36
The manufacturing workforce—so critical to manufacturing innovation—is the basic, yet decisive, building block for successfully implementing next-generation strategies. If manufacturers are to engineer innovation in their businesses, workforce-…
Faster Than a Speeding Bullet Forensics is relying increasingly on laser scanning, but is it reliable?
Thu, 08/22/2013 - 10:58
Three-dimensional (3D) scanners used at crime scenes for forensic investigations aren’t just the stuff of prime time television. Investigators and crime laboratories do use 3D laser scanning measurement systems to measure and model critical aspects…
Affordable Modeling and Simulation Spurs New Age of U.S. Manufacturing Pay-per-use software and resources key to innovation
Mon, 08/05/2013 - 16:55
American manufacturing is at a noteworthy and exciting convergence of three powerful trends that can provide an opportunity for growth in industry. • Traditional manufacturing as we’ve known it may be fading, but there remains a legacy of…
NIST Standard Reference Material to Help Calibrate Hospital CAT Scanners Tissue density measurements traceable to international standards
Wed, 07/31/2013 - 13:34
Scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a new standard reference material (SRM), the first such measurement tool to enable hospitals to link important tissue density measurements made by CAT scans to…
NIST’s Indenter Tunes In to Measure Surface Properties Touchless surface detector precisely determines hardness, elasticity, and creep
Mon, 07/29/2013 - 17:02
Researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of North Carolina have demonstrated a new design for an instrument, a “instrumented nanoscale indenter,” that makes sensitive measurements of the…
Book Discount Available for NACMA Conference Attendees 20-percent discount on Coordinate Measuring Machines and Systems
Mon, 07/22/2013 - 10:06
(NIST: Gaithersburg, MD) -- National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) authors and CRC Press have arranged to give all attendees at the 2013 North American Coordinate Metrology Association (NACMA) conference a 20-percent discount on the…