In the age of big data, it is time to ensure that units are routinely documented for easy, unambiguous exchange of information. Robert Hanisch is the director of the Office of Data and Informatics at ...

The metric system is on track for a mass makeover. In an effort to provide accurate measurements at all scales, scientists are preparing to redefine four basic units by the end of 2018. The shift will ...

In no field of science is the gulf between appreciation and importance as wide as it is for metrology. It’s not about the weather. Metrology is the science of measuring. It has a longer history than ...

Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. This week, Sam Kean takes a look at some ridiculously precise ...

For millennia, humans have turned to the sky to tell time. Our planet rotates once on its axis, and we’ve lived another day. We divide that day into smaller fractions: the hour, minute, and second.

THROUGHOUT MUCH of human history, man has been the measure of many, if not all, things. Lengths were divided up into feet, palms, spans and smaller units derived from the human hand. Other measures ...

Metric Units for the Solar System is an exploration of our relationship with the systems of ‘standardized units’ we have created to order society; examining the various tensions implicit in the ...

The NIST-4 Kibble balance, an electromagnetic weighing machine that is used to measure Planck's constant, and in turn, redefine the kilogram. Jennifer Lauren Lee / NIST Locked in a vault that requires ...

In 1975, the United States passed the Metric Conversion Act. The legislation was meant to slowly transition its units of measurement from feet and pounds to meters and kilograms, bringing the US up to ...