Max Planck transformed physics by proposing that energy came in discrete packets called quanta, introducing what became known ...

What is it to be quantum? We hear the word often enough: quantum mechanics, quantum teleportation, quantum entanglement, quantum computing, quantum encryption, etc. Rarely, it seems, do we consider ...

Only Slate Plus members can gift Slate stories. Become a member to share 10 free articles a month.Become a Plus Member We live in an age—perhaps the age—of confirmation bias. And given a turbulent sea ...

A high-tech version of a balance scale has just brought scientists a critical step closer toward a new and improved definition of the kilogram. The scale, called the NIST-4 watt balance, has conducted ...

Planck's constant is one of the fundamental constants that sets up all the "rules" for how things work in our universe. (It’s named after the theoretical physicist Max Planck, who is best known for ...

Long before quantum mechanics became a household term, Max Planck was already thinking carefully about what it actually means ...

A high-tech version of an old-fashioned balance scale at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has just brought scientists a critical step closer toward a new and improved ...