AS SCIENCE probes ever smaller scales, we need new units. The existing measures of length, for example, only go as far as the yoctometre – that’s 10-24 metres. What’s next?
There is, Feedback has discovered, a proposal in the wings. “In 1993, hacker Morgan Burke proposed, to general approval, the following additional prefixes: groucho (10-30), harpo (10-27)…” the Free Online Dictionary of Computing records. “This would leave the prefixes zeppo, gummo and chico available for future expansion…Sadly, there is little immediate prospect that Mr Burke’s eminently sensible proposal will be ratified.”
Feedback commends this proposal to the Bureau…
