“Beyond Measure,” by James Vincent, tells the story of human civilization through its systems of measurement, showing how they have promoted knowledge, social control and ongoing conflict. By Jennifer ...

In prehistoric times, not much needed to be measured. You ate what you found and lived where you could. The advent of agriculture and civilization, however, necessitated a way for people to measure ...

Why is Christian Science in our name? Our name is about honesty. The Monitor is owned by The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and we’ve always been transparent about that. The church publishes the ...

Metric units have conquered the globe, but in the US and the UK, their presence has become part of a culture war between ‘traditional’ and ‘progressive’ values. is a senior reporter who has covered AI ...

Imagine a prisoner in a cell, tabulating time served. Those groups of four lines crossed with a diagonal fifth have a long history. It stretches back to the Wolf Bone, found in what is now the Czech ...

WE TAKE the certainty of measurements for granted, but their story is as complicated and changeable as any other part of human culture. Journalist James Vincent makes this clear in his new book, which ...

Precision: The Measure of All Things is a three-part British television series outlining aspects of the history of measurement. It was originally aired in June 2013 on BBC Four. The series comprised ...