The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has a vast warehouse storing over 1,300 standard reference materials (SRMs) used for calibration and validation in various industries. These SRMs include unusual items like domestic sludge, peanut butter, and even human tissue. The peanut butter, for example, is a standard reference material used to calibrate equipment for measuring nutritional content, and it costs around $1,000 per jar. NIST also sells a standard bullet used for forensic analysis and a standard diet mix that represents the average American's nutritional intake. The organization is preparing to launch its first living SRM, hamster ovary cells, to support the production of monoclonal antibodies. These SRMs play a crucial role in ensuring the accuracy of measurements and the safety of products, from food to steel, and even help in environmental monitoring and disease diagnosis.
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1. The video is sponsored by Google Domains.
2. The U.S. government has a warehouse that sells almost anything, including blueberries, steel, cigarettes, limestone, and domestic sludge.
3. Domestic sludge is collected from wastewater treatment plants and is a fine powder that is not recommended to smell.
4. The warehouse sells a wide variety of products, including food items, metals, and biological samples.
5. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) produces standard reference materials (SRMs) that are used to calibrate equipment and ensure accuracy in measurements.
6. One of the SRMs produced by NIST is a standard peanut butter that is used to calibrate equipment used to measure the composition of peanut butter.
7. The standard peanut butter is made by mixing peanut butter with a known quantity of various compounds and then measuring the quantities of those compounds.
8. The standard peanut butter is sold in jars that cost around $1,000 each.
9. NIST also produces SRMs for other food items, including meat homogenate and a standard diet mix that represents the average American diet.
10. The standard diet mix is made by blending together a variety of foods and then freeze-drying them into a fine powder.
11. NIST sells around 30 different food items that are used as SRMs.
12. NIST has a system for categorizing foods based on their macronutrient content, with three main categories: carbohydrates, fats, and proteins.
13. NIST's SRMs are used by researchers and manufacturers to calibrate their equipment and ensure accuracy in their measurements.
14. NIST's SRMs are also used to validate the accuracy of measurements made by other organizations, such as the FDA.
15. NIST has a warehouse that stores its SRMs, which is approximately 20,000 square feet in size.
16. NIST sells around 30,000 units of its SRMs each year, with half of those sales going to domestic customers and half going to international customers.
17. NIST has a website where customers can purchase its SRMs, and the website offers a variety of search functions to help customers find the SRMs they need.
18. NIST's SRMs are used in a wide range of industries, including food, pharmaceuticals, and manufacturing.
19. NIST's SRMs are also used to support research in areas such as environmental monitoring and public health.
20. NIST is preparing to launch its first living SRM, which will be a type of cell that can produce monoclonal antibodies.
21. The living SRM will be used to support research in areas such as biotechnology and pharmaceuticals.
22. NIST's SRMs are used to support the development of new medical treatments, including vaccines and therapies.
23. NIST's SRMs are also used to support research in areas such as environmental monitoring and climate change.
24. NIST's SRMs are used to support the development of new technologies, including renewable energy and advanced materials.
25. NIST's SRMs are used to support research in areas such as food safety and nutrition.