View the evolution of the National Science Foundation logo

View an historical mural depicting the NSF's impact across seven decades

From 1950 to 2020, the National Science Foundation supported discovery-based, exploratory research that led to numerous breakthroughs, including the development of supercomputing centers, 3D printing technologies, biometric identification systems, an understanding of vector-borne illnesses, a DNA amplification technique, mobile meteorology units, and scientific education and literacy programming.

An organizational breakdown of the National Science Foundation's directorates

Each is responsible for supporting a different discipline within science, engineering, and education, such as the Directorate for Biological Sciences, the Directorate for Engineering, and the Directorate for STEM Education. Formed in 2022, the Directorate for Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships is the NSF's first new directorate in 30 years and is focused on growing industry and an equitable STEM workforce.

The origin of the National Science Foundation and why World War II led to its founding

Before World War II, research institutions were funded by endowments or private companies whose priorities stifled the curiosity-driven science that fueled significant breakthroughs and innovation. The NSF was established in 1950 to promote independent scientific progress through basic research, which is focused on knowledge acquisition rather than commercial applications, conducted at national colleges and universities.

An analysis of the National Science Foundation's historical budget and spending

The NSF accounted for 0.1% of all federal spending in FY2024, with $9.39B—just over twice its FY1991 spending—out of $6.78T overall. Almost 99% of these funds ($9.29B) went to general science and basic research, with the rest allocated to national defense.

The origin of the term STEM—science, technology, engineering, and mathematics—at the NSF

In 2001, Judith Ramaley coined the acronym while director of the National Science Foundation to replace "SMET," which was considered awkward-sounding. Since then, additional elements have been incorporated in various settings to modify the acronym, such as STEAM-based education, which includes art.

The history of the National Science Foundation Network, a precursor of the internet

Although ARPANET connected various national laboratories and supercomputing facilities by the 1970s to facilitate scientific collaboration, the system was slow and required highly trained operators. The launch of NSFNET in 1986 provided a more flexible and powerful network that went on to connect over 170 academic and research communities and link to its European counterpart, EASInet.

How the National Science Foundation helped cement the use of American Sign Language

Before the 1960s, deaf students were taught to read lips and pronounce words without signing, which was not considered a true language. After noticing that students nonetheless signed when communicating, American linguist William Stokoe conducted NSF-funded research that showed that signing met the definition of oral languages, thus establishing ASL.

The lab coat worn on 'Bill Nye the Science Guy' is stored in the Smithsonian

The series received substantial funding from the National Science Foundation and US Department of Energy to help fulfill requirements from the 1990 Children's Television Act to support educational children's programming. The show became the first television program to run concurrently on both public and commercial broadcast stations.

How the NSA has changed through history

The National Security Agency was born in the Cold War and then transformed by 9/11. This article answers all the basic questions you might have about the NSA, from what it does to how much data it collects to some of its useful intercepts.

See the evolution of Super Bowl logos and how the NFL refined its visual identity over time

Tracing Super Bowl logos from early, varied designs to today’s standardized look shows how the NFL adapted to shifting design trends, television demands, and brand strategy.

A former grant recipient and reviewer explains how the NSF decides what research to fund

Every year, approximately 50,000 research proposals are evaluated against two merit review criteria approved by the National Science Board: the quality of the project and its potential societal impact. These evaluations are conducted by experts in the fields related to each proposal, identified by NSF program officers from a list of about 50,000 volunteers.

Visualizing the symbols and history of world flags

More than 200 world flags feature high-intent designs, projecting ideals and values to the world through archetypal symbols, colors, and shapes. This page effectively depicts the data behind symbol and shape usage, how much each country's flag has changed over time, the most popular colors used, and more in a series of elegantly simple charts.

Apple's first logo was a portrait of Isaac Newton sitting under a tree

Before the minimalist image of an apple with a bite taken out of it, Apple's logo depicted the fruit dangling above the physicist, likely a nod to the anecdote about his epiphany regarding gravity.

Wikipedia's puzzle globe logo was developed by a 17-year-old

In 2003, the site held a contest for its users to submit designs for a new logo. Paul Stansifer submitted the winning design, which used the incomplete puzzle as a symbol for the encyclopedia being a work in progress. Symbols and letters would later replace text within Stansifer's colorful design.

The James Beard Foundation rebranded in 2025

Design firm Siberia emphasized the foundation's mission: "good food for good." This case study from Print isn't just a fascinating look at one campaign—it’s a primer on understanding how design works.

X's bird logo cost just $15 and wasn't added until four years after launch

When Twitter launched in 2006, it featured green, slimy lettering and lacked the now-famous bird icon. The bird was adopted in 2010 and eventually became the platform's official logo—unofficially named Larry after NBA legend Larry Bird.

A gallery of medical illustrations from NIH

The National Institutes of Health provides educational materials for broad use. The institute hosts a Flickr account with many different image galleries, including this one (with over 70 images to date) that illustrate and annotate curious phenomena, from the life cycles of a malaria parasite to the comparison of male and female bladders. Explore the gallery here.

The Eye of Providence on $1 bills is a lightning rod for conspiracy theorists

The symbol is associated with the Freemasons, one of the world’s oldest secret societies. It also appears on churches, Masonic buildings, and the great seal of the United States.

The science of symmetry | The Royal Society

Nature is full of symmetries, from spiral galaxies to florets of broccoli. So why do complex creatures break the pattern?This short video discusses why symmetry came to dominate life on Earth, and how many complex life forms, such as humans, transitioned from radial to lateral symmetry.

View the evolution of atomic models, with four successively overturned between 1900 and 1926

Originally thought to be indivisible spheres unique to each element, the discovery of the electron by J.J. Thomson revealed them to be made of smaller particles. Ernest Rutherford's gold foil experiment uncovered the existence of nuclei, which Niels Bohr suggested were surrounded by electrons in fixed orbits. By applying quantum mechanics, Erwin Schrödinger replaced orbits with probability clouds.

Ebola is a filovirus, meaning it resembles a thread under a microscope

Filovirus is derived from the Latin word 'filum', meaning 'thread.' That term describes its thin, flexible, threadlike appearance. Originally isolated in 1976, the microscopic image of the Ebola virus is now famous, even portrayed in the movie Outbreak. In fact, Ebola's threadlike appearance can vary in both length and degree of twisting, sometimes resembling a bowl of spaghetti.

The Planetary Society provides an active role in advancing space exploration

Founded in 1980 by Carl Sagan, Louis Friedman, and Bruce Murray in response to public interest in space not adequately reflected in government investment, it is now the world’s largest nonprofit space organization, with more than 2 million members.

Watch a tour of a 3D visualization of the Pillars of Creation

Combining observational data from the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes has allowed NASA scientists to create a multiwavelength model of the star-forming region at the heart of the Eagle nebula.

Ebola is a filovirus, meaning it resembles a thread under a microscope, though it sometimes twists and can resemble a bowl of spaghetti.

Every type of US national park, explained

Ever wonder what kinds of sites comprise the US National Park System? Using the recent re-designation of New River Gorge as a national park as a jumping-off point, this engaging video breaks down the 19 different designations within the National Park System. This includes parks, reserves, monuments, and scenic trails.

The evolution of spacesuit design

Spacesuits have come a long way since cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin's orange jumpsuit used in the world's first entry into space in 1960. The iconic outfit is a crucial feature of all space exploration, ensuring humans are protected during launch, spacewalks, re-entry, and more. From innovations in thermal wear to the incremental changes to space helmets, dive into spacesuit history here.

After NASA's Voyager 1 captured Earth as a single pixel as it left the solar system in 1990, astronomer Carl Sagan used the image to reflect on humanity's fragility and the responsibility to protect 'the only world we've ever known.'

See the most iconic photos from four decades of LIFE magazine

Mid-century modern graphic designers, known for their bright colors and bold lines in advertising, also found success with children's books.

The name 'Silicon Valley' arose from the founding of Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory in Fairchild Semiconductor in 1956-57, founded near Stanford University in Palo Alto

At the beginning of the 20th century, a group of young men ate standard American food—replete with food additives like borax and formaldehyde—as part of government research to better understand food safety.

As of 2025, the most cited papers in science include a review of graphene, methods to improve image recognition, streamlining electron density calculations, and optimizing protein studies.

Visualize the path of every solar eclipse from 1900 to 2099 and see what each looks like when observed from different locations on Earth.

The original copy of the Declaration of Independence is not a pristine document, and even features a smudged anonymous handprint in the bottom left corner.

Legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed the SC Johnson headquarters in Wisconsin, aiming to make a cathedral-like workplace

See these 16 pieces of art evoking phobias of snakes, flying, spiders, and more. 

Learn how your body is, scientifically, like a firework with its own slow, controlled burn.

Up to a million Girl Scouts sell about 200 million cookie boxes every spring, generating $800 million, largely because refusing a child is frowned upon

Massive blooms of microscopic plankton called dinoflagellates produce the neon blue light seen in glowing tides.

'Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone,' a work by American painter Thomas Moran, inspired Congress to establish Yellowstone National Park.

SpaceX's S-1 or 'prospectus' revealed many previously unknown details about the company, including its unprofitability despite doing $18.7B in revenue in 2025, exactly how many voting shares Elon Musk will have in the company (roughly 85%), and more.

The American Society of Civil Engineers' infrastructure report card gave the US a C in 2025, its highest grade since the project launched in 1998.

See how each of the more than two million known species relates to each other—and to common ancestors—in this zoomable tree of life.

The USPS spent $3.97B in 2024, accounting for .058% of the federal budget.

While the first exchange-traded fund (a 'basket' of different assets that can be bought and sold on a stock exchange) in the US only launched in 1993, the global ETF market has grown to more than $10T in the short time since.

Sunflowers have long been a symbol of nuclear disarmament because they can extract large amounts of radioactive cesium from soil.

For centuries, Niagara Falls has been a magnet for daredevils seeking to conquer one of nature's most powerful wonders, with its 200-foot drop and water rushing at 32 feet per second with 280 tons of force.

Search a massive database of over 4 decades of clues from the TV quiz show 'Jeopardy!'

SpongeBob exemplifies Aristotle's philosophy for living well because he understands that happiness doesn't come from external factors like money, recognition, or power.