Special Reports
NSF welcomes members of the public to help solve science, technology, engineering and math challenges by submitting ideas and solutions for a chance to win prizes.
Date Updated: November 14, 2018
An online magazine examining the breakthroughs and the possibilities for new discoveries about our planet, our universe and ourselves. Each week, Science Nation takes a dynamic, entertaining look at the research--and the researchers--that will change our lives.
Date Updated: December 3, 2018
Since 2017, NSF has been building a foundation for the Big Ideas through pioneering research and pilot activities. In 2019, NSF will invest $30 million in each Big Idea and continue to identify and support emerging opportunities for U.S. leadership in Big Ideas that serve the Nation's future.
Date Updated: October 19, 2018
Large-scale weather patterns play a large role in controlling seasonal weather. Knowing the conditions of these atmospheric oscillations in advance would greatly improve long-range weather predictions.
Date Updated: October 18, 2018
Nobel Prizes--The NSF Connection
When a scientist who has received federal funding is awarded the Nobel prize, the public can share both the pride and the research benefits. More than 200 laureates have been supported by the public through NSF.
Date Updated: October 9, 2018
Catch a Wave! The Science of Summer
Meet sharks and alligators up close, listen to the eerie sounds of the West’s rock arches, explore a lost continent. Catch a wave! Explore the science of summer with the National Science Foundation.
Date Updated: June 4, 2018
Futures of the Scientific Imagination
Fantastical thinking, grounded in real, NSF-funded science and engineering research, helps shape tomorrow's technologies. Imagination, science and technology together will inevitably change our lives.
Date Updated: November 21, 2017
A century ago, Albert Einstein predicted gravitational waves -- ripples in the fabric of space-time that result from the universe's most violent phenomena. A hundred years later, NSF-funded researchers using the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) have detected gravitational waves.
Date Updated: October 16, 2017
Solar science: Exploring the power of our closest star
It's the year of the Great American Eclipse--an opportunity to bring "solar science" into the spotlight. As Earth’s nearest star, our energy-rich, brilliant sun and its volatile atmospheric disturbances can interfere with our own planet's power grids and communications systems. But NSF-funded science looks at ways to learn more from the sun and how we can further harness its power...during an eclipse and beyond!
Date Updated: June 29, 2017
April Showers Bring... The Science of Spring
From flowers’ microscopic cells to thunderstorms called supercells, researchers funded by NSF are studying the science of spring. NSF peers into what makes spring such a vibrant--and sometimes dangerous--season.
Date Updated: April 18, 2017
Cleaner water, cleaner future: Engineering new water tech
Engineering researchers are creating new ways to handle drought, chemical spills and water purification. Imagine a clean water future.
Date Updated: February 13, 2017
The National Science Foundation and NBC Learn, the educational arm of NBC News, release an original video series exploring the connection between water, food and energy.
Date Updated: February 7, 2017
Let It Snow! The Science of Winter
Snow--that icon of winter--blankets the land with a beautiful silence. We all depend on snow. Our year-round water supply largely comes from snowmelt, and many spring flowers need the nutrients in snow to bloom. Species as small as fungi and as large as moose require snow.
Date Updated: January 13, 2017
NSF INCLUDES is a multi-year initiative designed to help develop collaborative alliances and partnerships in order to create pathways for more people to become scientists and engineers.
Date Updated: December 13, 2016
Public Access to Results of NSF-funded Research
The National Science Foundation has developed a plan outlining a framework for activities to increase public access to scientific publications and digital scientific data resulting from research the foundation funds.
Date Updated: December 2, 2016
NSF Innovation Corps (I-Corps)
I-Corps offers researchers unique opportunities to learn how to turn discoveries into new technologies and to participate in the national innovation ecosystem.
Date Updated: September 27, 2016
A Foundation for Robotics: Designing cooperative, intelligent systems of the future
Long-term federal investments in fundamental science and engineering research has led to novel machines that safely partner with people in nearly every environment.
Date Updated: June 6, 2016
The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) is an NSF-funded large facility project. NEON is a continental-scale research platform for discovering and understanding the impacts of climate change, land-use change and invasive species on ecology. Learn about NEON and NEON-related research.
Date Updated: March 23, 2016
From 3-D bioprinting that could one day generate heart tissue to origami-inspired structures built for medicine and space exploration, a new set of educational videos continues an exploration begun in 2013 inside the creative process that leads to innovation.
Date Updated: February 18, 2016
Computer Science Is for All Students
NSF-funded research is building the necessary foundations for implementing rigorous and engaging computer science education. A wide range of resources, including instructional materials and support for teachers and schools, have been prototyped across the U.S.
Date Updated: January 30, 2016
Nanotechnology: Super Small Science
A six-part video series howing how atoms and molecules that are thousands of times smaller than the width of a human hair can be used as building blocks to create future technology.
Date Updated: January 25, 2016
Cybersecurity: Tech, tools and training to safeguard the future
Cybersecurity is one of the defining issues of our time. Cutting-edge, NSF-supported social and technical research -- as well as education and workforce development programs--are helping protect our national, and personal, security.
Date Updated: October 30, 2015
When Nature Strikes: Science of Natural Hazards
A 10-part video series spotlighting the fundamental scientific research NSF funds to improve predictability and risk assessment and reduce the impact of catastrophic events.
Date Updated: September 29, 2015
Height of light: Progress in lasers and other light sources
Lasers have long energized our imaginations, bringing us light sabers and holodecks. In reality, light-based technologies, based on basic properties, materials and designs, enable our modern lifestyles.
Date Updated: June 18, 2015
NSF aims to enable scientific understanding of the full complexity of the brain, in action and in context, through targeted, cross-disciplinary investments in research, technology and workforce development. Learn about NSF’s cross-foundational activities in brain research including the BRAIN Initiative.
Date Updated: June 9, 2015
By investing in future Internet architectures, networking protocols and applications, and communities of researchers, NSF continues to advance the capabilities afforded by the Internet.
Date Updated: March 25, 2015
Life savers: Resilient designs to weather hazards
Disasters don't have to be disastrous. Engineering advances enable buildings and infrastructure to better withstand any size of natural, technological or malicious hazard.
Date Updated: February 3, 2015
Broader impacts: Improving society
Scientific progress comes in all shapes and sizes. Disparate fields, researchers and methods united by one thing: potential. Every NSF grant has the potential to advance knowledge and benefit society--what we call broader impacts.
Date Updated: November 12, 2014
Cyber-physical systems: Enabling a smart and connected world
Cyber-physical systems integrate sensing, computation, control and networking into physical objects and infrastructure, connecting them to the Internet and to each other. NSF is a leader in supporting advances in the fundamental knowledge and tools to make cyber-physical systems a reality.
Date Updated: November 6, 2014
Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases
West Nile virus. Hantavirus. Lyme disease. Infectious diseases are spreading in animals and humans. Is our interaction with the environment somehow responsible?
Date Updated: October 6, 2014