The big science-y news of last week was the vote to officially redefine of the kilogram-- see the stories in Physics World and Physics Today for more detail--after decades of work by physicists on ...

Sealed under a trio of nested glass bell jars, a gleaming metal cylinder sits in a temperature-controlled vault in the bowels of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures in Sèvres, France.

Meters, kilograms, degrees Celsius. To most Americans, these units of measurement are little more than funny inconveniences on trips abroad. To scientists, they’re the very standards that allow for ...