Some time measurements, like months and years, use the movements of the moon and sun, respectively. But other time measurements, like the hour, aren’t clearly connected to astronomical phenomena.
An asteroid ‘the size of 33 armadillos’ might be a flight of fancy, but real astronomers measure celestial objects with units that are just as strange.
Robert F Kennedy on the presidential campaign trail in 1968.
Alamy
Amid the global threats posed by climate change, spiralling energy costs, insecure employment and widening inequality, the need to rethink our notion of progress is now an urgent priority.
Strict rules guide the official count for how much solid precipitation fell.
Photos by Vesuviante/Moment via Getty Images
It’s hard to get accurate measurements, but a nationwide network of more than 8,000 volunteers with rulers and specific standards reports after every storm.
Alan Copson / Jon Arnold Images Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo
Measurement and standards are at the heart of how we trade commodities and measure wealth. So what happens now that the planet’s most critical standard has been completely overhauled?
A new standard defines the kilogram from today.
Shutterstock/Piotr Wytrazek
Today marks one of the biggest shake-ups in the history of measurement. But the new standards on how we define units of mass, length, time and so on are not easy to explain.
Some things are just tricky to measure.
Flickr/Patty O'Hearn Kickham
How useful is the information you get from the measure of any thing? That depends on what you chose measure in the first place, and that’s not always clear.
Warren Sanderson, Stony Brook University (The State University of New York); Sergei Scherbov, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) y Simone Ghislandi, Bocconi University
Most researchers use the UN’s Human Development Index to measure each country’s progress, but that system has flaws. A new, simplified index aims to do it better.
A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, as U.S. President Donald Trump speaks on the television shortly after the opening bell.
REUTERS/Lucas Jackson
For a long time the way we measure what is going on in our economy and society has distorted our actions. We’re now building a more holistic way of measuring progress.
It’s important to look at what businesses are purchasing.
Shutterstock
If you’re into business and finance there are myriad numbers you can look at. But PMI is one of the better ones if you really want to know where an economy is going.
Sometimes you don’t need a measuring stick to come up with an assessment: really, really deep.
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