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 ...

A study led by the University of Oxford has identified a surprising source of entropy in quantum timekeeping—the act of measurement itself. In a study published in Physical Review Letters, scientists ...

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 ...