Keeping time is easy, keeping precise time is hard, but a new type of clock based on atomic nuclei has pushed time-keeping precision to new levels.

By using a rare thorium nucleus as a timekeeper, physicists have demonstrated the first working nuclear clock, a device that could lead to even more precise clocks and new ways to search for dark ...

FOR THE discerning timekeeper, only an atomic clock will do. Whereas the best quartz timepieces will lose a millisecond every six weeks, an atomic clock might not lose a thousandth of one in a decade.

Follow this author to personalize your feed and get instant alerts. WHY FOLLOW? Update your preferences in Account Settings The atomic clock was invented at Columbia University by Professor Charles H.

Imagine you're trying to keep time by listening to a room full of people clapping. If everyone claps randomly, it’s hard to tell the rhythm. But if they clap in sync, the beat becomes clear and steady ...

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Every time you check the time on your phone, make an online transaction, or use a navigation app, you are depending on the precision of atomic clocks. Scientists are developing next-generation atomic ...

Vladan Vuletić with members of his Experimental Atomic Physics group. From left to right: Matthew Radzihovsky, Leon Zaporski, Qi Liu, Vladan Vuletić, and Gustavo Velez. Every time you check the time ...

Markus Lutz is CTO and Founder of SiTime Corporation. He is a MEMS expert, a prolific entrepreneur and inventor who holds over 100 patents. Timekeeping might be the unsung hero of human ingenuity. The ...