U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) Engineer Shannon McGarry, Ph.D., received the Department of the Navy (DON) 2025 G. Dennis White Early Career Human Systems Integration (HSI) Practitioner Award for contributions and unwavering commitment embodying the essential qualities critical to the advancement of the HSI discipline, ensuring the safety and effectiveness of systems delivered to our warfighters.

Scientists at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) have identified a previously overlooked electric field mechanism in Earth’s magnetotail that could help predict when disruptive space weather events are about to occur.

The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) Spacecraft Engineering Department recently developed the Transmit/Receive Enterprise (TREx) service with sponsorship from the Space Development Agency, Space Rapid Capabilities Office, and Space Systems Command to provide software development and mission operations for sponsoring organizations across the space community.

Researchers at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), in collaboration with Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), have developed the first anatomically accurate rat brain phantom capable of measuring traumatic brain injury (TBI) impacts in real time. The breakthrough model replicates the mechanical properties of brain tissue while embedding a piezoelectric sensor that converts impact forces directly into measurable electrical signals, offering unprecedented insight into how blast waves and impacts propagate through the brain.

A U.S. Naval Research Laboratory’s (NRL) space robotics team received the Best Paper Award in Orbital Robotics at the 2025 International Conference on Space Robotics (iSpaRo) in Sendai, Japan, on Dec. 3. The recognition spotlights NRL’s leadership in autonomous space systems and artificial intelligence–enabled operations.

At 0808 on Dec. 2, 1995, the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA’s joint Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) satellite launched from NASA Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fl. Among the 15 instruments aboard the spacecraft was the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory’s (NRL) Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph (LASCO).

In honor of the United States Navy’s 250th birthday, the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) is celebrating five Navy innovations that became groundbreaking technologies and shape the lives of people around the world.

Scientists at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), working with Florida International University’s (FIU) Global Forensic and Justice Center, have demonstrated a new method for detecting trace levels of fentanyl using a silicon nanowire (SiNW) array that concentrates chemical vapors for handheld detection instruments. The breakthrough offers first responders a faster, safer way to identify fentanyl and related synthetic opioids without direct contact with the drug.

The American Physical Society (APS) selected John Lyons, Ph.D., a physical scientist in the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory’s (NRL) Materials Science and Technology Division, as a 2025 APS Fellow for his fundamental contributions to the understanding and design of wide-band-gap semiconductors using first-principles methods, including strategies for semiconductor doping and for understanding and controlling exciton fine structure.

Scientists at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) have a powerful new tool to accelerate discovery in quantum materials for advanced electronics. The laboratory recently completed installation of a state-of-the-art “cluster system” that allows researchers to grow and analyze materials at the atomic level, all without ever removing samples from its ultra-clean environment.