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The faster a clock ticks, the more precise it can be.

The heat which occurs in tiny computer processors might soon be no longer useless or even a problem. On the contrary: It could be used to switch these processors more easily or to store data more efficiently! These are two of the several potential applications made possible by a discovery made at the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB). This so-called "thermoelectric voltage" may well be very interesting – mainly for the use of nano-junctions, i.e.

Quantum logic is quite a new and absolutely fascinating field of physics and might – ultimately – lead to the fabrication of a quantum computer. And it could also aid the search for the "theory of everything" – the missing link between traditional physics and quantum physics. One of the fundamental questions hereby is whether fundamental constants possibly vary.

Metrologists are measurement artists who are very precise – in the case of the Boltzmann constant up to the sixth decimal place. Whoever is able to determine it very exactly will cause a small revolution in the field of worldwide temperature measurement: The temperature unit will then no longer be based - as hitherto - on a chemico-physical material property, i.e. the triple point of water, but on an unchangeable fundamental constant.