When we measure the world, we measure it using base units like 'foot,' 'mile,' 'meter,' and 'second.' But who decides how big those units of measurement are? In the United States, those units are ...

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 ...

The 'one kilogram to rule them all' was cast in platinum and iridium in 1879 and is kept in a triple-locked vault THE world says goodbye to the original kilogram on May 20, on World Metrology Day.

One of the most iconic hunks of metal in the world is set to get a demotion. The official metallic cylinder that defines the mass of a kilogram may soon be set aside in favor of a measurement that is ...

A kilo is a kilo is a kilo, right? Wrong. Monday marks World Metrology Day, and this year’s edition sees a big change in the way the kilogram unit is defined. In November last year, scientists and ...

The kilogram has the dubious distinction of being the only SI unit still based on a physical object; specifically, a metal cylinder kept in a vault in France. Plans are well underway to redefine the ...

Scientists and policy makers from around 60 nations voted unanimously Friday to redefine the kilogram. The decision at the General Conference on Weights and Measures in Versailles, France was greeted ...

The kilogram may need to go on a diet. The international standard, a cylinder-shaped hunk of metal that defines the fundamental unit of mass, has gained tens of micrograms of mass from surface ...

The official US kilogram — the physical prototype against which all weights in the United States are calibrated — cannot be touched by human hands except in rare circumstances. Sealed beneath a bell ...

Scientists have changed the way the kilogram is defined. Currently, it is defined by the weight of a platinum-based ingot called "Le Grand K" which is locked away in a safe in Paris. On Friday, ...

THE kilogram, the scientific unit of mass, is defined by a cylindrical lump of platinum and iridium, made in 1879 and stored in Paris. There are also around 40 copies of it in scientific ...