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

A clock built from thorium-229 has crossed an important line, from a long-discussed concept to a working device. The shift ...

Scientists studying particle collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) usually capture what happens when atomic nuclei smash into one another at nearly the speed of light. But even when ...

First dreamed up decades ago, the world's first nuclear clocks are set to improve quickly, becoming more precise and aiding ...

Two independent research teams have achieved a longstanding goal in physics: building a working nuclear clock. The devices, ...

But physicists have long dreamt of even better clocks that run on atomic nuclei, which are less sensitive to environmental ...

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

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The nucleus of an atom is now the modern version of sand flowing through an hourglass. Researchers have spent 15 years trying to increase accuracy in timekeeping. The U.S. standard currently relies on ...

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Atomic and molecular physics addresses the structure and interactions of atoms and molecules, uniting quantum theory with experimental observation to explain phenomena from spectral lines to collision ...