Daily briefing: First-ever ‘nuclear’ clocks put atomic clocks in the shade

You have full access to this article via your institution. Hello Nature readers, would you like to get this Briefing in your inbox free every day? Sign up here . Researchers have been chasing the concept of a nuclear clock for more than 20 years. Last year, Nature reporter Elizabeth Gibney explained how the imminent discovery could improve on state-of-the-art atomic clocks. ( Nature | 4 min watch ) Two research teams, one in Europe and one in China, have made the world’s first ‘nuclear’ clocks . These clocks derive their ‘tick’ from the energy that makes protons and neutrons inside the nucleus of thorium-229 shift to a higher energy level. The groups used similar approaches to solve the problem that’s hindered nuclear-clock development in the past: how to keep the clock’s tick speed from drifting over time. Creating a nuclear clock is “a dream come true”, says atomic physicist Thorsten Schumm, a member of the European team. “Now we have a fierce but friendly global competition.” Nature | 5 min read Reference: arXiv preprint 1 & preprint 2 (not peer reviewed) The H5N1 strain of avian influenza has been detected in two wild birds in Australia — the first cases of the disease on the continent . There’s no evidence that the virus has killed large groups of birds or mammals, but at least 58 sick or dead birds have been reported on an emergency hotline. …