In prehistoric times, not much needed to be measured. You ate what you found and lived where you could. The advent of agriculture and civilization, however, necessitated a way for people to measure ...

If scientists had sacred objects, this would be one of them: a single, closely guarded 137-year-old cylinder of metal, housed in a vault outside of Paris. It is a prototype that precisely defines a ...

What unit of measurement should be used for specific reports? Whether printing out a check register or calculating square footage, using the correct team is essential. A size mistake can lead to ...

The Imperial Measurement System, originated in Britain in 1824, is now primarily used by only three countries: the United States, Liberia, and Myanmar. Defined by non-decimal units like inches, pounds ...

The system the academy created was beautifully simple, and driven by the notion of deriving measurements from nature. The basic unit of length, the metre (or meter if you will) would be equal to one ...

Balancing act The two systems of measurement – imperial and metric – are often used together in UK shops. (Courtesy: iStock/Paolo Paradiso) When I was at primary school in the 1960s, measurements were ...

If you’re from the US or are trying to understand American units of measure, there’s now an easier way to do that with Uniter. This is a new iPhone app that can convert measurements in real-time in ...

Using a state-of-the-art device for measuring mass, researchers have made their most precise determination yet of Planck's constant, an important value in science that will help to redefine the ...

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 ...