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Researchers working at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) are studying an unusually pliant yet strong synthetic cartilage replacement in hopes of providing arthritis victims with some relief. In a paper presented at the March Meeting of the American Physical Society, NIST scientists and colleagues from Hokkaido University in Japan reported on the properties of a gel that, while having the pliancy of gelatin, won't break apart even when deformed over 1,000 percent.

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Researchers at NIST and the University of Maryland have developed a new optical method that can detect individual neutrons and record them over a range of intensities at least a hundred times greater than existing detectors. The new detector, described at the March Meeting of the American Physical Society, promises to improve existing neutron measurements and enable tests of new phenomena beyond the Standard Model, the basic framework of particle physics.

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A new microscope design allows nanotechnology researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to track the motions of nanoparticles in solution as they dart around in three dimensions. The researchers hope the technology, which NIST plans to patent, will lead to a better understanding of the dynamics of nanoparticles in fluids and, ultimately, process control techniques to optimize the assembly of nanotech devices.

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Ultracold atoms moving through a carefully designed arrangement of laser beams will jiggle slightly as they go, two NIST scientists have predicted. If observed, this never-before-seen "jitterbug" motion would shed light on a little-known oddity of quantum mechanics arising from Paul Dirac's 80-year-old theory of the electron.

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An atomic clock that uses an aluminum atom to apply the logic of computers to the peculiarities of the quantum world now rivals the world's most accurate clock, based on a single mercury atom. Both clocks are at least 10 times more accurate than the current U.S. time standard.

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At the request of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, NIST researchers are studying ways to quantify the hazards of using portable gas power generators in improperly ventilated areas - a single generator can emit several hundred times more poisonous carbon monoxide than a modern car's exhaust.

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NIST has submitted to Congress the annual report of activities under the National Construction Safety Team (NCST) Act, which authorizes the agency to conduct technical investigations of major building failures in the United States.

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Using an unusual spectroscopic technique, NIST researchers have provided the most convincing evidence yet that current is flowing through a simple silicon-based molecular 'sandwich,' the most basic structure of molecular electronics.

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NIST engineers recently took a look at energy-related upgrades to their own quarters and found energy-related improvements were well-worth the expense.

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The NIST/TRC Thermodynamic Tables, a popular chemical database distributed by NIST in printed form for 65 years, is now available online.

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Visitors to the NIST Web site can view a video that portrays NIST's construction of an encasement for the 1507 Waldseemueller Map, often called 'America's birth certificate.'

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Business executives, entrepreneurs, investors and government researchers and development officials interested in commercializing recent research advances in nanoelectronics, nanofabrication and nanometrology will meet April 8 at a Technology Transfer Showcase hosted by NIST in Gaithersburg, Md.

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Researchers at NIST, the National Cancer Institute and the scientific research firm SAIC recently showed how chicken antibodies may one day improve the detection of an aggressive form of breast cancer.

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A super-sensitive mini-sensor developed at NIST can detect nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) in tiny samples of fluids flowing through a novel microchip. The prototype chip device may have wide application as a sensitive chemical analyzer, for example in rapid screening to find new drugs.

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A research team from NIST and the University of Colorado at Boulder has demonstrated an optical technique for simultaneously identifying tiny amounts of a broad range of molecules in the breath, potentially enabling a fast, low-cost screening tool for disease.

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A simple surface treatment technique demonstrated by researchers at NIST, Penn State and the University of Kentucky potentially offers a low-cost way to mass produce large arrays of organic electronic transistors on polymer sheets for a wide range of applications including flexible displays, 'intelligent paper' and flexible sheets of biosensor arrays for field diagnostics.

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The same chemicals that keep food from sticking to our frying pans and stains from setting in our carpets are damaging the livers and impairing the immune systems of loggerhead turtles - an environmental health impact that also may signal a danger for humans.

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Chemists at NIST have been the first to measure significant amounts of copper incorporated into zinc oxide nanowires during fabrication - a measurement important to optimizing optical and electrical properties of the nanowires.

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Five years ago on Feb. 20, 2003, pyrotechnics lit during a concert at The Station nightclub in West Warwick, R.I., started a rapidly spreading fire that caused the deaths of 100 people - follow-up on recommendations from the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

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The National Institute of Standards and Technology has produced a DVD of a presentation on the science of cold temperatures made by Nobel laureate William Phillips, a physicist at NIST, at an area school.

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A next-generation atomic clock that tops previous records for accuracy in clocks based on neutral atoms has been demonstrated by physicists at JILA, a joint institute of the Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Colorado at Boulder.

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New measurements by NIST materials scientists have uncovered an intriguing wrinkle in the use of carbon nanotubes to make electrically conducting plastics. The electrical properties of the composite can be tuned from being a conductor to a non-conductor by a simple change in processing - speeding up the molten polymer flow.

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A new ASTM International standard for urban search and rescue robots and components tackles humble logistics problems that, left unsolved, could hamper the use of life-saving robots in major disasters.

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Led by the three major biofuels producers (the U.S., Brazil and the European Union), an international effort seeks harmonized standards for bioethanol and biodiesel, two key renewable energy sources and global commodities. A report identifying standards differences is step one. Next: national measurement labs (NIST in this country) will work to bridge the gaps.

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Scientists at JILA, a joint institute of the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the University of Colorado, have found one possible way to solve the problem of "blinking" quantum dots. The advance could make quantum dots more sensitive in biomedical tests and steadier sources of single photons for "unbreakable" quantum encryption.

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National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) researchers are working to improve the performance of some heat exchangers even further by providing engineers with computer-based tools for optimizing their designs.

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Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Minnesota have demonstrated a video method that eventually may be able to make in vivo measurements of mechanical properties in fluid-solid interfaces such as blood vessels that are important in biology and industry.

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The Argonne National Laboratory of the Department of Energy (DoE) announced on Jan. 17, 2008, that a team of researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has been awarded 750,000 central processing unit (CPU) hours to study concrete flow on the IBM Blue Gene/P supercomputer at the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility.

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Engineers and researchers designing and building new microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) can benefit from a new test method developed at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to measure a key mechanical property of such systems: elasticity.

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Enhancing trade between the United States and the nations of the European Union (EU) while helping ensure the safety and quality of goods sold in both markets is the goal of a collaborative agreement signed on Dec. 17, 2007, between the European Commission (EC) Joint Research Centre (JRC)'s Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements (IRMM) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

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The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has issued its first reference standards for nanoscale particles targeted for the biomedical research community"”literally "gold standards" for labs studying the biological effects of nanoparticles.

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A new report from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) shows that investment in measurement science has and will continue to have a dramatic effect on innovation, productivity, growth and competitiveness in and among high technology sectors.

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Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging uses a radioactive isotope, most commonly fluorine-18, which is very short-lived. Now, fluorine-18 has a longer-lived stand-in, known as germanium-68, that might might ultimately improve medical imaging, speed up clinical trials of many drugs and facilitate efforts to develop more individualized medical treatment.

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Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a novel technique for measuring the roughness of surfaces that is casting doubt on the accuracy of current procedures.

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Scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have made the first direct measurements of the infinitesimal expansion and collapse of thin polymer films used in the manufacture of advanced semiconductor devices. It's a matter of only a couple of nanometers, but it can be enough to affect the performance of next-generation chip manufacturing.

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Millions of satellite television and radio users in North Africa and the Middle East can now see and hear the precise time of day, thanks to technical assistance and a custom-built time signal generator from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

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A team of computer scientists and mathematicians from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Texas, Arlington is developing an open-source tool that catches programming errors by using an emerging approach called "combinatorial testing."

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The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), in cooperation with the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), has established a new accreditation program for laboratories that test personal body armor.

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The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has developed an imaging system that quickly maps the mechanical properties of materials"”how stiff or stretchy they are, for example"”at scales on the order of billionths of a meter.

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A hermetically sealed glass and aluminum encasement built by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will protect the first world map to label the lands of the New World as "America."

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On November 20, President George W. Bush and Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez named five organizations as the recipients of the 2007 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the nation's highest Presidential honor for organizational performance excellence. This year the awardees included nonprofit organizations for the first time.

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Using laser light to stir an ultracold gas of atoms, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Joint Quantum Institute (NIST/University of Maryland) have demonstrated the first "persistent" current in an ultracold atomic gas "”a frictionless flow of particles.

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Nanowires grown at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have a mechanical "quality factor" at least 10 times higher than reported values for other nanoscale devices such as carbon nanotubes, and comparable to that of commercial quartz crystals.

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Engineers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed and tested a laser-based ranging system to assess the performance of automobile collision warning systems.

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Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have demonstrated a mechanical fatigue process that eventually leads to cracks and breakdown in bulk silicon crystals"”a phenomenon that's particularly interesting because it long has been thought not to exist.

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Each year the Baldrige National Quality Program recruits experts from businesses, education organizations, health care providers, nonprofits and other groups to serve as members of the Board of Examiners for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. Examiners evaluate applications for the award and prepare feedback reports to applicants that cite strengths and opportunities for improvement.

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As this year's holiday season approaches, your credit card transactions may be a little more secure thanks to standards adopted by the payment card industry. The latest incarnation of these standards include the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Version 2 that was coauthored this year by researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and Carnegie Mellon University in collaboration with 23 other organizations.

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Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and George Mason University have demonstrated what is probably the world's smallest microwave oven, a tiny mechanism that can heat a pinhead-sized drop of liquid inside a container slightly shorter than an ant and half as wide as a single hair.

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Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) used their expertise in radiation science to help a young company create weakened, harmless versions of the malaria-causing parasite. These parasites, in turn, are being used to create a new type of vaccine that shows promise of being more effective than current malaria vaccines.

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A tiny sensor that can detect magnetic field changes as small as 70 femtoteslas"”equivalent to the brain waves of a person daydreaming"”has been demonstrated at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The sensor could be battery-operated and could reduce the costs of non-invasive biomagnetic measurements such as fetal heart monitoring. The device also may have applications such as homeland security screening for explosives.