David vs Goliaths: Singapore builds most accurate clock ever, leaves US and China in dust

David vs Goliaths: Singapore builds most accurate clock ever, leaves US and China in dustThe decade-long project could help to pave the way for a redefinition of the second, researchers claim in a new paperPublished: 4:00pm, 2 Oct 2026A small Singaporean research team has beaten scientists in China and the United States to build the world’s most accurate atomic clock.The clock, built with a single ion of a rare earth metal element known as lutetium, is so precise that it would lose one second every 260 billion years – nearly 20 times the age of our universe.It is about four times as accurate as the previous record holder, a calcium-ion clock developed by a Chinese Academy of Sciences team in Wuhan, and also surpasses an aluminium-ion clock unveiled last year by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology.0.8x0.9x1.0x1.1x1.2x1.5x1.75x00:0000:00AI-generated voice