Not a study, this week, but instead, an actual scientific factoid. This one will have you the most popular person on the pub quiz team, guaranteed.
Did you know that there is 'one weight to rule them all'? It's called the Le Grand K, and is a lump of platinum about the size of a plum, kept in a vault in Paris. It's used as the official measurement of a kilogram. There are also a number of copies, which are supposed to act as a reference point for the countries who have been given them.
Once a year, these copies are brought back to Paris, to be weighed against the original, to make sure that we're all using the same kilogram. Except. Disaster has struck. Recent measurements have shown the Le Grand K is actually losing weight (except it can't, cos it's The Daddy) potentially because it's handled less often than the copies. It's the equivalent loss of one grain of sugar in a kilogram bag, but counts for a lot if you're the business of weighing things. Scientists are trying to come up with a new, sparklier and more exact method. Got any ideas?
[via BBC]
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My HS physics teacher told us about that. He said coming up with a better method would be one way to win a nobel prize :P