By using a rare thorium nucleus as a timekeeper, physicists have demonstrated the first working nuclear clock, a device that ...

Time feels familiar. It marks every moment of daily life, from the ticking of a wall clock to the changing numbers on a ...

Most clocks, from wristwatches to the systems that run GPS and the internet, work by tracking regular, repeating motions. To build a clock, you need something that ticks in a perfectly repeatable way.

(koto_feja/Getty Images) A breakthrough in chronometry decades in the making could redefine the limits of how we keep time.

A clock based on radioactive thorium atoms realises a long-held ambition, demonstrating a technology that could eventually ...

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 ...

In popular culture, lasers are often portrayed as portable blasters that superheat whatever they hit. Some lasers do deliver tremendous amounts of energy in reality, but for scientists and engineers, ...