Oliver Smoot is retiring from his chairmanship of the American National Standards Institute. He lent his name — and body — to the "smoot" — a unit of length, equal to his height (5 feet, 7 inches). In ...

Before measuring something, it is important to know which unit to use. Estimating its approximate size by comparing it with a more familiar object can help. In order to find a suitable unit of measure ...

Not everything can be measured in meters, seconds, or the size of a breadbox. Sometimes, to quantify something, extreme and silly steps have to be taken. Find out how big Siberia is, and how long a ...

Though you’ve likely never given it much thought, a universally accepted unit of measurement like the humble meter is an amazing thing. It lets scientists separated by culture, language, race and even ...

A group of researchers from the University of Helsinki have carried out the first globally comprehensive analysis of the use and distribution of body-based units of measure. By analysing digital ...

There are things in the world that are too small to perceive directly, but that doesn’t mean we can’t measure them. Here are 11 teeny units of measurement used to describe tiny things. When someone ...