National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

NIST's Center for AI Standards and Innovation (CAISI) signs expanded collaborations with Google DeepMind, Microsoft and xAI for pre-deployment evaluations and other research to support frontier AI national security testing. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/e-wcPvA3

It’s the season of high fashion with the Met Gala upon us. If you’re inspired by the latest trends and heading to your favorite clothing stores, you probably noticed a small problem: not every clothing size is the same. Back in the day, the National Bureau of Standards – the agency that would become NIST – tried to fix this issue. Because of the mass production of uniforms during the Civil War, men’s clothes became standardized first. After years of struggling to standardize women’s clothes, the clothing industry asked us in 1949 to see if we could solve the problem. Over almost a decade, our researchers looked at former attempts to create standards for women’s clothing as well as made measurements of their own before they released their own sizing guide in 1958. The standards seemed to make an impact, but they ultimately fell out of fashion in the 1970s and 1980s. Just like certain styles from the early 2000s and Y2K fashion trends are making a comeback, hopefully, standardizing women’s clothes will resurface. Curious to see what else NIST has been involved in? Check out the NISTory video series: https://lnkd.in/e6TgJG2x

Building safety tip for wildfire: Clear the area around your home of combustible objects. It’s a straightforward step to keep your home safer from wildfire. NIST research has found that trashcans, sheds, and vegetation can create a pathway for flames, making it more likely that a fire will spread to your home. 🔗 https://lnkd.in/eH9Bd-P3 May is building safety month, so we’ll be highlighting people and research here at NIST that help keep the buildings around us safe. #BuildingSafety365

What? You don't think about geese and World Metrology Day? Are you saying we're alone with these invasive thoughts?

From the DARPA Robotics Challenge to the modern factory floor, measuring how humanoid robots move around and accomplish useful tasks in the real world is key to unlocking their potential. The industry is moving fast, but we lack a rigorous way to compare performance between different platforms. In response, NIST is developing a new Humanoid Robot Baseline Performance Benchmark to establish a common framework for measuring humanoid capabilities. This benchmark would provide the "minimum expected" metrics that will help manufacturers and researchers align on what these robots can actually do. We need your expertise. We are seeking feedback from the robotics community to ensure these tasks truly reflect what every humanoid should be able to do. Learn more about the benchmark and how to participate: https://lnkd.in/e7unKFDv

If there’s one constant in NIST’s basic science research, it’s the importance of measuring constants — quantities such as the speed of light that are believed to be unchanging and the same throughout the universe. Today’s issue features our latest measurement of the gravitational constant G, which determines the strength of the force of gravity everywhere in the cosmos. This work was done by some of the same team members who measured the Planck constant, which now helps define the kilogram. Learn more about the constants that form the backbone of the modern metric system in this month's Tech Beat.

In the 1800s, a bushel of grain or a yard of fabric could differ significantly from transaction to transaction. That’s because our young country lacked a consistent system for weights and measures. That wasn’t ideal for merchants or for the government that needed to tax these items. President Andrew Jackson turned to Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler to evaluate and address the issue as America’s first scientist to lead a scientific agency. Hassler learned that the standard used to tax commodities varied by as much as 15% among the different places where taxes were collected at the time, known as custom houses. So, Hassler came up with a uniform standard for pounds, yards and bushels for every custom house and state capital in the United States. This was an impressive logistical feat for its time! Approaches to weights and measures have come a long way since then. Thanks to NIST, we now have a scientific system for weights and measures that ensures a gallon of gas (or anything else you buy by weight or measure) is the same, wherever you are in the country.

When is a clock more than a way to tell time? When it’s used as a quantum sensor! Einstein’s theory of relativity revealed something surprising: Time ticks slightly faster in lower gravity and slightly slower in higher gravity. Today’s best atomic clocks are so accurate that they can measure these tiny effects, making them highly accurate gravity sensors. This isn’t just a scientific curiosity. Scientists believe atomic clocks could soon help reveal objects and flows of materials that are hidden from view. In the future, we may see atomic clocks doing amazing things, including: • Detecting underground flows of lava that can warn us about volcanic eruptions • Tracking underground movement of water into or out of aquifers • Discovering deposits of minerals or oil • Mapping the Earth and transforming how surveying is done Learn more: https://lnkd.in/exSceHjj

A new laboratory technique for measuring how quickly cells penetrate and pass through a porous membrane and reach the opposite side could help identify cancer cells with the greatest potential to spread in the human body. The method relies on tiny electrodes placed on either side of an artificial membrane. The electrodes measure changes in electrical resistance as cells pass through the material. The most aggressive cancer cells pass through the membrane more rapidly than other cells. The illustration depicts cells (green and blue) moving through a membrane (grey) studded with microelectrodes (gold rings). 🔗 https://lnkd.in/egR9Gq6n