## Metadata - Author: [[Lindsay Clark]] - Full Title: It's About Time! - Category: #articles - URL: https://www.theregister.com/2023/10/02/nuclear_clock_scandium/ ## Highlights - Scientists have set the clock ticking for the development of a new generation of timepieces with accuracy of up to 1 second in 300 billion years or about 22 times the age of the universe. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hhxksx62z6ehab483271xhxn)) - But scientists have held the ambition of going one step further by using the oscillation of the atomic nucleus – rather than the electron shell – to create the next level in timekeeping. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hhxksnh0x0z0gqkf8708d1e7)) - At the European XFEL X-ray laser, researchers have found a promising candidate in the element scandium. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hhxkt39r2b9hn4h6t3bzdj0k)) - In other words, if your watch loses a second a year, it will be 9,512 years slow by the time a nuclear clock based on scandium is a second out. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hhxks6sgnx15shhcnxb58csp))