Environment & Science News

Environment & Science

NIST’s Shrimp and Salmon Reference Materials Could Help Combat Seafood Fraud

News Release: At your local supermarket, you can usually find all sorts of seafood on display, but it’s sometimes hard to know if it’s correctly labeled. If you purchase seafood marked as wild-caught salmon, for example, how do you know that you’re not actually getting cheaper farm-raised salmon, or even an entirely different kind of fish?

Environment & Science

NIST Provides Update on Investigation Into the Collapse of Champlain Towers South

News Release: GAITHERSBURG, Md. - Today, in a meeting of the National Construction Safety Team (NCST) Advisory Committee, investigators from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) shared details of their investigation into the partial collapse of the Champlain Towers South building in Surfside, Florida. They highlighted preliminary evaluations of the data collected on site conditions and additional deviations from design in the construction of the building’s pool deck.

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Environment & Science

NIST Seeks Input on Implementation of National Standards Strategy for Critical and Emerging Technology

News Release: GAITHERSBURG, Md. - The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has published a Request for Information seeking public input on how best to implement the U.S. Government National Standards Strategy for Critical and Emerging Technology (USG NSSCET ).


Environment & Science

NIST to Standardize Encryption Algorithms That Can Resist Attack by Quantum Computers

News Release: Last year, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) selected four algorithms designed to withstand attack by quantum computers. Now the agency has begun the process of standardizing these algorithms - the final step before making these mathematical tools available so that organizations around the world can integrate them into their encryption infrastructure.


Environment & Science

NIST Issues New Guidance for Emergency Response During Wildfires

News Release: The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has released a pair of reports that provide guidance for strengthening wildfire preparedness across the United States, including specific actions that communities can take to save lives when there is not enough time to safely evacuate all residents. NIST has also created a new website with guidance for making built structures and entire communities more fire resistant.


Environment & Science

Researchers Fully Sequence the Y Chromosome for the First Time

News Release: What was once the final frontier of the human genome - the Y chromosome - has just been mapped out in its entirety.


Environment & Science

National Institute of Standards and Technology publishes four press releases in February

There were four press releases published by the National Institute of Standards and Technology in February.


Environment & Science

NIST Demonstrates a New ‘Primary Standard’ for Measuring Ultralow Pressures

News Release: A vacuum chamber is never perfectly empty. A small number of atoms or molecules always remain, and measuring the tiny pressures they exert is critical. For instance, semiconductor manufacturers create microchips in vacuum chambers that must be almost entirely devoid of atomic and molecular contaminants, and so they need to monitor the gas pressure in the chamber to ensure that the contaminant levels are acceptably low.


Environment & Science

NIST Drafts Major Update to Its Widely Used Cybersecurity Framework

News Release: The world’s leading cybersecurity guidance is getting its first complete makeover since its release nearly a decade ago.


Environment & Science

Former NIST Director Lewis Branscomb Connected the Curiosity of Scientists With the Needs of the Nation

News Release: Lewis Branscomb, the director of the National Bureau of Standards (NBS) from 1969 to 1972, died in May at 96 years old. He led teams of scientists to pioneering discoveries, and when he left the agency, now known as National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), he was only 45, yet he had already clocked more professional achievements than most experience in a lifetime.


Environment & Science

New NIST Measurements Aim to Advance and Validate Portable MRI Technology

News Release: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI ) machines can clearly view non-bony parts of the body - soft tissue such as the brain, muscles and ligaments - as well as detect tumors, making it possible to diagnose many diseases and other conditions. However, the powerful magnets in conventional MRI machines make them expensive and bulky, confining them mainly to hospitals and other large facilities.


Environment & Science

Nine press releases published in January by National Institute of Standards and Technology

There were nine press releases published by the National Institute of Standards and Technology in January.


Environment & Science

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration publishes two press releases in April

There were two press releases published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in April.


Environment & Science

AI Can Accurately Predict Potentially Fatal Cardiac Events in Firefighters

News Release: Firefighters regularly risk their lives in dangerous situations, but most deaths on duty are not directly caused by fire or smoke inhalation. Instead, approximately 40% of on-duty fatalities come from sudden cardiac death.


Environment & Science

Why Does Matter Exist? Roundness of Electrons May Hold Clues

News Release: In the first moments of our universe, countless numbers of protons, neutrons and electrons formed alongside their antimatter counterparts. As the universe expanded and cooled, almost all these matter and antimatter particles met and annihilated each other, leaving only photons, or flashes of light, in their wake.


Environment & Science

Ray Kammer, Who Led NIST to the Start of the 21st Century, Dies at 76

News Release: Ray Kammer, who as director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) led a successful push to modernize the agency’s laboratory facilities, died June 18 in Alpharetta, Georgia. He was 76 years old.


Environment & Science

New Laser-Based Method Could Help Scientists Discover New Puncture-Resistant Materials

News Release: A bullet piercing the protective armor of a first responder, a jellyfish stinging a swimmer, micrometeorites striking a satellite: High-speed projectiles that puncture materials show up in many forms. Researchers constantly aim to identify new materials that can better resist these high-speed puncture events, but it has been hard to connect the microscopic details of a promising new material to its actual behavior in real-world situations.


Environment & Science

2023/2024 Recreational Harvest of Greater Amberjack in Federal Waters of the Gulf of Mexico Will Open on August 1, 2023, and Close on August 25, 2023

Recreational harvest of greater amberjack in federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico (Gulf) will open at 12:01 am, local time, on August 1, 2023, and close at 12:01 am, local time, on August 25, 2023.



Environment & Science

Inseason Actions #12-#13 in Non-Tribal Ocean Salmon Fisheries, North of Cape Falcon

NOAA Fisheries has taken inseason action in the 2023 non-tribal commercial salmon fisheries from the U.S./Canada border to Cape Falcon.