The U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology called this Friday a “turning point for humanity,” even though the difference between this day and the day before weighs, theoretically, nothing ...

For decades, metrologists have strived to retire ‘Le Grand K’ — the platinum and iridium cylinder that for 126 years has defined the kilogram from a high-security vault outside Paris. Now it looks as ...

The International Committee for Weights and Measures is about to reach a decision that could affect the teaching and understanding of basic science for the next hundred years. It has passed a ...

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 ...

How much is a kilogram? 1,000 grams. 2.20462 pounds. Or 0.0685 slugs based on the old Imperial gravitational system. But where does this amount actually come from and how can everyone be sure they are ...

Redefinition of the kilogram will not make the kilogram more precise, but it will make it more stable. A physical object can lose or gain atoms over time, or be destroyed, but constants remain the ...

The official definition of a kilogram has been changing for well over a century, but this week it may be redefined for the final time. After years of debate and discussion, scientists from around the ...

The kilogram is getting an update. No, your bathroom scales won’t suddenly become kinder and a kilo of fruit will still weigh a kilo. But the way scientists define the exact mass of a kilogram is ...

We measure stuff all the time — how long, how heavy, how hot, and so on — because we need to for things such as trade, health and knowledge. But making sure our measurements compare apples with apples ...

Scientists from around the world are gathering in France today to decide the fate of the kilogram. For nearly 130 years, the kilogram has been based on a lump of metal called the Big K, locked in a ...

Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. is a senior reporter who has covered AI, robotics, and more for eight years at The Verge. In between coffee ...