| 10 Blog Posts You May Have Missed This Year As we wrap up a busy year and your workload (hopefully) slows down for the holidays, we thought we'd share with you 10 blog posts you may have missed in 2021, but now just might have time to read! From hormone tracking to frequency combs to search-and-rescue robots, the blog posts below highlight the vast array of subject areas NIST researchers tackle day to day. | | Tracking Hormones on Land and at Sea Collecting blood samples from dolphins is NOT an easy task. But measuring the hormones in dolphins can help us detect changes in the environment early. One NIST researcher helped figure out a way to measure eight hormones in dolphin blubber. (And if you're really interested in hormones, check out this second blog post about hormones and reproduction: Eavesdropping on Hormones to Help Understand Reproduction.) | | Monitoring the Oceans' Color for Clues to Climate Change The color of the ocean is a key indicator of its health and how the overall climate is changing. NIST researcher Carol Johnson is part of a team providing satellite calibrations to ensure accurate ocean color measurements. Learn more about their ocean-borne system MOBY, now on its 67th deployment. | | Improving Forensic Chemistry: A Q&A With NIST's Ed Sisco Drugs called novel psychoactive substances — from synthetic opioids (like fentanyl) to cannabinoids — are presenting challenges for our law enforcement and public safety communities. In this Q&A, NIST research chemist Ed Sisco talks about his work with trace detection systems for forensics, homeland security and other applications and how he found himself working in this field. | | Making Measurements With a Fine-Toothed Comb Nobel Prize anyone? First developed to build better atomic clocks, optical frequency combs are ultra-precise rulers for light. Their measurements have opened a plethora of research doors, from astrophysics to health. (They're also the reason NIST researcher Jan Hall received a Nobel Prize.) Learn more about these devices and how they work. | | NIST Radioactivity Measurements Get the Ball Rolling for New Cancer Therapies Cancer cells fall like pins at a bowling alley when doctors are using alpha particles, the 16-pound bowling balls of the radiotherapy realm. NIST chemist Denis Bergeron shows how good measurements are crucial to ensuring that patients get the right dose of alpha particles to precisely treat cancer. | | Search and Rescue Robotics: A Q&A With NIST's Adam Jacoff From robots that can disable improvised explosive devices to those that search under semi-collapsed buildings, search and rescue robots are doing some heavy lifting to keep our emergency personnel safe. NIST robotics research engineer Adam Jacoff develops the standard testing methods that help ensure these response robots — and their handlers — perform as they should. Learn more about Adam, his work and his career. | | Working to Improve Small-Scale MRIs: My Summer as a SURF Student at NIST When the pandemic hit, college students planning to work as NIST research fellows over the summer didn't know what their virtual intern experiences would look like. UT-Dallas undergraduate Emily Buchanan shares the story of her remote work to improve the quality of images taken by a small, hand-sized MRI machine. | | Supporting Mobile Public Safety Broadband Using Drone-Borne Networks Whether they are in a remote mountain valley fighting a wildfire or on a search and rescue mission just after a hurricane, first responders need to be able to use their new smartphone-based tools. One of the ways they are doing that is by bringing broadband to emergency sites via drone, but this comes with its challenges. | | Creating and Commercializing the NIST RoboCrane Taking NIST science out of the lab and into the world is a critical piece of NIST's mission. One shining example of success is the RoboCrane, which currently is hard at work at the Chernobyl and Fukushima nuclear cleanup sites. Learn more about how this particular hard worker made it out of our labs. | | Key Comparisons: Transmitting Correct Measures All Around the World Transmittance, a measure of how much light passes through a material, is critically important for many science and technology applications around the world. When national measurement laboratories compare transmittance measurements internationally, they help ensure that countries can confidently trade with one another. | | | |
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