NIST News | |
Displaying news from January 01, 2009 To March 31, 2009
NIST-Cornell Team Builds World's First Nanofluidic Device with Complex 3-D Surfaces -- Chamber Separates Nanoparticles Like a 'Coin Sorter'
Release Date: March 31, 2009 (A) Schematic of the NIST-Cornell nanofluidic device with complex 3-D surfaces. Each "step" of the "staircase" seen on the side marks a different depth within the chamber. The letter "E" … more
2009 Technology R&D Competition to Address Civil Infrastructure, Manufacturing
Release Date: March 26, 2009 GAITHERSBURG, Md.—The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) today announced a 2009 competition for multiyear research funding in two major areas of national interest, … more
Conference on Safeguarding Health Information, May 18-19
Release Date: March 24, 2009 Most people’s experience with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) consists of a quick glance at a photocopied document at the doctor’s office … more
NIST Stairwell Evacuation Study Finds 'What We Know We Don't Know'
Release Date: March 24, 2009 Most of the time, we use the stairs in buildings—especially in high-rise structures—only as a back-up for faster elevators and escalators, but during a fire or other emergency, … more
Flatland Physics Probes Mysteries of Superfluidity
Release Date: March 24, 2009 If physicists lived in Flatland—the fictional two-dimensional world invented by Edwin Abbott in his 1884 novel—some of their quantum physics experiments would turn out … more
Making a Point: Picoscale Stability in a Room-Temperature AFM
Release Date: March 24, 2009 Forget dancing angels, a research team from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Colorado (CU) has shown how to detect and monitor the tiny amount of … more
NIST’s Fiscal Year Budget to Increase 8.3 Percent to $819 M
Release Date: March 24, 2009 For fiscal year 2009, which ends on Sept. 30, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has received $819 million in appropriations, an increase of 8.3 percent over the previous … more
Magnetism Governs Properties of Iron-Based Superconductors
Release Date: March 24, 2009 NIST research shows that magnetism plays a key role in iron pnictide superconductors' crystal structure. (Iron is purple; arsenic is yellow; calcium is green.) Only if the … more
NIST Research Collaboration Spies Galfenol’s Inner Beauty Mark
Release Date: March 24, 2009 Magnetostrictors are a critical element in sound detection equipment including the sonar used in submarines. Scientists working at NIST solved the structure of the magnetostrictor … more
New Program Evaluates Labs for Emergency Communications Tests
Release Date: March 24, 2009 To help ensure that first responders, public safety officers and military personnel can always talk with each other no matter what communications equipment they are using (a characteristic known as … more
New Reference Material Supports Improved Quality Control for Polymers Industry
Release Date: March 10, 2009 NIST polymer reference materials (a variety of polyethelene materials are shown) are used in the calibration and performance evaluation of instruments used in polymer research and … more
Comments Sought on NIST Guidelines for Structural Fire Resistance
Release Date: March 10, 2009 A new draft report released for public comment by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) provides a comprehensive set of "best practice" guidelines for designing … more
Safer Net Surfing Is Goal of NIST Domain Name Security Experts
Release Date: March 10, 2009 When you type www.irs.gov—or the Web address of your bank or an e-commerce site—into your web browser, you want to be sure that no one is hijacking your request and sending you … more
April Workshop Takes Aim at Obstacles to Nanotech Energy Technologies
Release Date: March 10, 2009 Most processes governing the generation, conversion, and transport of energy occur at the nanoscale. Exploring the new measurement and materials’ characterization techniques needed to … more
NIST Time and Frequency Metrology Seminar to be held June 2-5
Release Date: March 10, 2009 The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will host the 34th annual Time and Frequency Metrology Seminar on June 2-5, 2009, in Boulder, Colo. The four-day seminar provides the most … more
NIST to Receive $610 Million Through Recovery Act
Release Date: March 10, 2009 The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will receive $610 million in funds as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The agency will use the funds for … more
NIST to Receive $610 Million Through Recovery Act
Release Date: March 3, 2009 The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will receive $610 million in funds as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The agency will use the funds for … more
Nanotechnologists Gain Powerful New Materials Probe
Release Date: February 24, 2009 Top view of the MACS multiaxis detector system (seen before being enclosed in shielding material). With more neutrons striking the sample and more detectors surrounding it, MACS will … more
Probing and Controlling ‘Molecular Rattling’ May Mean Better Preservatives
Release Date: February 24, 2009 Preservatives like sugar surround and protect complex molecules (foreground), but varying degrees of movement within the preservative - symbolized by the different colors in the … more
Colorado Governor Ritter Honors NIST Internet Time Service
Release Date: February 24, 2009 On Feb. 17, Governor Bill Ritter of Colorado presented the 2009 CO-LABS Governor’s Awards for Research Impact to scientists from five federal research laboratories, including the National … more
New Report Summarizes Federal Tech Transfer Activities
Release Date: February 24, 2009 Collaborative research agreements, invention licenses and several other technology transfer activities of the federal government trended upward between 2002 and 2007, according to a new, … more
NanoFab Adds New Capabilities
Release Date: February 24, 2009 The NanoFab (nanoscale fabrication facility) at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is expanding its capabilities to serve researchers, academic institutions and businesses … more
Researchers Demonstrate Novel ‘Quantum Data Buffering’ Scheme
Release Date: February 24, 2009 In a new demonstration of physicists’ growing ability to control the “spooky” quantum dynamics phenomenon called entanglement, researchers from the National Institute … more
NIST and French Lab to Study Weathering of Advanced Composites for Bridges and Piers
Release Date: February 24, 2009 Weather SPHERE: Researchers from France's National Scientific and Technological Institute and NIST will work together to learn more about the effect of weathering on fiber-reinforced … more
Updated Recommendations for Protecting Wireless, Remote Access Data
Release Date: February 24, 2009 Telecommuting has freed many to work far from the confines of the office via laptop, but the price of working while sipping a latte at that sunny café is the danger that a public network … more
Cross-Dressing Rubidium May Reveal Clues for Exotic Computing
Release Date: February 24, 2009 Neutral atoms—having no net electric charge—usually don’t act very dramatically around a magnetic field. But by “dressing them up” with light, … more
Probing and Controlling ‘Molecular Rattling’ May Mean Better Preservatives
Release Date: February 24, 2009 For centuries, people have preserved fruit by mixing it with sugar, making thick jams that last for months without spoiling. Now scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology … more
ComSci Fellowship Program Accepting Applications for 2009-2010
Release Date: February 24, 2009 Senior federal employees who want a broader perspective on the development of the nation’s science and technology policy are invited to apply for the Commerce Science and Technology … more
Random Antenna Arrays Boost Emergency Communications
Release Date: February 24, 2009 First responders could boost their radio communications quickly at a disaster site by setting out just four extra transmitters in a random arrangement to significantly increase the signal power at … more
NIST/Maryland Researchers Demonstrate 'Quantum Data Buffering' Scheme -- 'Delayed Quantum Image' Potentially Useful for Quantum Computers
Release Date: February 12, 2009 In this simplified representation of the experimental setup for a ‘quantum buffer,’ a cell containing rubidium gas is used to produce a pair of information-rich … more
Conference to Focus on Anti-Counterfeiting, Consumer Protection
Release Date: February 10, 2009 Representatives from business and government agencies concerned with intellectual property rights, particularly those concerning electronic devices, will gather for a special workshop at the … more
Live Fire Experiments Examine Impact of Changes in Firefighting Resources
Release Date: February 10, 2009 Minutes after a two-story townhouse caught fire on Feb. 5, engines and crews raced to the townhouse to extinguish the fire and search for victims. No one was injured, however, because this was one … more
First Major Update to SP 800-53 Is Available for Public Comment
Release Date: February 10, 2009 The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has issued for public comment its first major update of Special Publication 800-53, the catalog of security controls and technical … more
New Reference Material Can Improve Testing of Multivitamin Tablets
Release Date: February 10, 2009 NIST has developed a new certified reference material that can be an important quality assurance tool for measuring the amounts of vitamins, carotenoids, and trace elements in dietary … more
Toothsome Research: Deducing the Diet of a Prehistoric Hominid
Release Date: February 10, 2009 In an unusual intersection of materials science and anthropology, researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and The George Washington University (GWU) have applied … more
Long-Sought Protein Structure May Help Reveal How 'Gene Switch' Works
Release Date: February 10, 2009 The bacterium behind one of mankind’s deadliest scourges, tuberculosis, is helping researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Brookhaven National … more
“How To” Guide for AFM-Based Nanomechanics
Release Date: February 9, 2009 MSEL recently published a book chapter on making quantitative nanomechanical measurements using atomic force microscopy (AFM). This practical user’s guide is based on several years of … more
New Modeling Approach for Electromigration Reliability
Release Date: February 9, 2009 MSEL researchers, in collaboration with the University of New Mexico, recently applied a new reliability modeling approach, peridynamics, to the problem of electromigration in microelectronic … more
Long-Sought Protein Structure May Help Reveal How ‘Gene Switch’ Works -- NIST, Brookhaven Researchers Use Tuberculosis Bacteria to End 25-Year Quest
Release Date: February 6, 2009 GAITHERSBURG, Md.—The bacterium behind one of mankind's deadliest scourges, tuberculosis, is helping researchers at the Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and … more
Live Fire Experiments Provide Data on the Effects of Fire Resources -- Results Could Help Local Governments Make Informed Resource Decisions
Release Date: February 5, 2009 ROCKVILLE, Md.—At a live demonstration of fire safety experiments today, a group of firefighting, public safety and scientific organizations described a landmark collaborative study … more
Taking the Stress Out of Magnetic Field Detection
Release Date: January 27, 2009 Transmission electron microscope (TEM) images show sections of a continuous 400-nanometer-thick magnetic film of a nickle-iron-copper-molybdenum alloy (top) and a film of the same … more
NIST Physicist Deborah Jin to Receive Sigma Xi's Top Honor
Release Date: January 27, 2009 Physicist Deborah S. Jin, a Fellow of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and JILA, a joint institute of NIST and the University of Colorado at Boulder, will receive Sigma … more
New Reference Material for Hexavalent Chromium in Contaminated Soil
Release Date: January 27, 2009 The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has issued a new standard—a certified reference material—to aid in the detection and measurement of the potent … more
Viscosity-Enhancing Nanomaterials May Double Service Life of Concrete
Release Date: January 27, 2009 Engineers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) are patenting a method that is expected to double the service life of concrete. The key, according to a new paper*, is a … more
For Refrigeration Problems, a Magnetically Attractive Solution
Release Date: January 27, 2009 Conventional and magnetic refrigeration cycles use different physical effects to cool things off. [Top] When a gas is compressed (2), it heats up, but if it is cooled and then … more
Insights into Polymer Film Instability Could Aid High Tech Industries
Release Date: January 13, 2009 Crystallization (left) occurs as polymers harden into thin films, which are used widely in electronics technology. But when dewetting (right) also occurs, inhomogeneities in the film can … more
'Two-Faced' Bioacids Put a New Face on Carbon Nanotube Self-Assembly
Release Date: January 13, 2009 Single wall carbon nanotubes enclosed in bile acid shells self assembled into a sheaf of long ordered fibrils each composed of several nanotube rods. Treating the microscope slide with a … more
NIST Seeks Small Business Vendors for Facility-Related Projects
Release Date: January 13, 2009 The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will hold an information session for small businesses interested in learning about opportunities for competing on anticipated individual … more
Bertocci, Kirchhoff Honored as AAAS Fellows
Release Date: January 13, 2009 National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) alumni researchers Ugo Bertocci and William H. Kirchhoff were recently elected as 2008 fellows of the American Association for the Advancement … more
Seeking Excellence? Baldrige Conference Fulfills Your 'Quest'
Release Date: January 13, 2009 Learn about the exceptional practices and results of the 2008 recipients of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award at the Quest for Excellence (QE) XXI, April 20-22, 2009, at the Hilton … more
Technology Innovation Program to Fund New Infrastructure Research
Release Date: January 13, 2009 The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has announced nine awards for new research projects to develop advanced sensing technologies that would enable timely and detailed … more
Sorting Diamonds from Toothbrushes: New Guide to Protecting Personal Information
Release Date: January 13, 2009 Thefts of personally identifiable information (PII), such as social security and credit card account numbers, are increasing dramatically. Adding to the difficulty of fighting this problem, … more
Simply Weird Stuff: Making Supersolids with Ultracold Gas Atoms
Release Date: January 13, 2009 Physicists at the Joint Quantum Institute (JQI) of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Maryland have proposed a recipe for turning ultracold … more
Super Sensitive Gas Detector Goes Down the Nanotubes
Release Date: January 13, 2009 When cells are under stress, they blow off steam by releasing minute amounts of nitrogen oxides and other toxic gases. In a recent paper,* researchers at the National Institute of Standards and … more
New Tool Gives Researchers a Glimpse of Biomolecules in Motion
Release Date: January 13, 2009 The ability of biomolecules to flex and bend is important for the performance of many functions within living cells. However, researchers interested in how biomolecules such as amino acids and … more
New NIST Method Accelerates Stability Testing of Soy-Based Biofuel
Release Date: January 13, 2009 The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has developed a method to accelerate stability testing of biodiesel fuel made from soybeans and also identified additives that enhance … more
NIST Technology Innovation Program Announces New R&D Projects To Develop Infrastructure Monitoring and Inspection Technologies
Release Date: January 6, 2009 GAITHERSBURG, Md.—The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) today announced nine awards for new research projects to develop advanced sensing technologies that would … more |
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