Metric Units for the Solar System is an exploration of our relationship with the systems of ‘standardized units’ we have created to order society; examining the various tensions implicit in the ...

The metric system is on track for a mass makeover. In an effort to provide accurate measurements at all scales, scientists are preparing to redefine four basic units by the end of 2018. The shift will ...

In 1975, the United States passed the Metric Conversion Act. The legislation was meant to slowly transition its units of measurement from feet and pounds to meters and kilograms, bringing the US up to ...

Americans have long used diverse weights and measures, reflecting their diverse origins. From colonial times, converting from one unit to another was part of courses in commercial arithmetic. The ...

THROUGHOUT MUCH of human history, man has been the measure of many, if not all, things. Lengths were divided up into feet, palms, spans and smaller units derived from the human hand. Other measures ...

The United States is one of just three countries that "prefers" imperial measurements over the international metric standard. The motivation why has less to do with official policy than you might ...