For most of human history, there was no clock to consult. So when the first mechanical clocks appeared, how did their makers ...

For decades, physicists have pursued a goal that sounds nearly impossible: to build a clock that keeps time using an atom's nucleus rather than the electrons orbiting it. "Having worked in this field ...

The world's first nuclear clocks have ticked. A team of physicists has demonstrated a working timekeeping device regulated not by orbiting electrons — as in conventional atomic clocks — but by ...

The timekeeping device is made with atomic nuclei of thorium, although it is not yet more precise than standard atomic clocks. Reading time 2 minutes Meet the “nuclear” clock: a device that marks the ...

The first clockmaker did not have to guess what time it was. Long before gears, wheels and moving hands appeared, people had ...

Clocks are the bedrock of modern physics and technology, as they allow scientists to assess fundamental scientific theories, and they make GPS and telecommunications possible. The current gold ...

While not primarily useful for telling the time, nuclear clocks could allow scientists to test humankind's fundamental understanding of how reality works. Thorsten Schumm is a clockmaker, but not the ...

Imagine a train parked at the station. Passengers climb aboard and find their seats. Conductors move up and down the aisles, checking tickets. But there's a problem—the engineer's watch is broken. As ...

For many years, scientists all around the world have been working towards this goal, now suddenly things are happening very fast: it was only in April that a team led by Prof Thorsten Schumm (TU Wien, ...