The steady tick of a clock usually feels simple and dependable. Something swings or vibrates in a controlled rhythm and marks the passing of each moment. What you rarely notice is the hidden cost ...

Scientists built a tiny clock from single-electron jumps to probe the true energy cost of quantum timekeeping. They discovered that reading the clock’s output requires vastly more energy than the ...

If you can read a traditional analog clock then congratulations, you’re smarter than artificial intelligence. AI is proving to be good at a lot of things, but reading an old-fashioned clock is not one ...

Graphic illustrating the difference in energy between running a quantum clock (left: a single electron hopping between two nanoscale regions) and reading the ticks of the clock (right). The energy ...