https://www.scmp.com/rss/321969/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com The most important part of one of the most precise clocks in the world is a paper-thin, staple-size piece of lutetium. It rests inside a soundproof, vibration-proof, mini-fridge-size box, which sits atop a US$22,000 motion-dampening table. Murray Barrett, associate professor of physics at the National University of Singapore, reaches for the case to show me. “It should be OK,” he says in his warm New Zealand accent. But then he hesitates. We are in a darkened lab­oratory filled with lasers whose... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3026835/race-against-time-build-worlds-most-precise?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3026835/race-against-time-build-worlds-most-precise?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 12 Sep 2019 21:00:10 +0000 American pop star Ariana Grande had every reason to expect that her new single, Thank U, Next, would race to the top of the charts in the United States when it was released earlier this month. When she checked iTunes after its release, though, she met with a surprise. Kris Wu, a superstar in China, not only had the No 1 spot on the iTunes’ singles chart but also seven of the top 10 songs. It was an extraordinary achievement for an artist with almost no North American profile, and Grande and her... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2173147/obsessive-fans-organise-push-chinese-idols-top?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2173147/obsessive-fans-organise-push-chinese-idols-top?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 14 Nov 2018 07:15:45 +0000 Jeongja Han dumps a drawer of pens and lighters into a plastic rubbish bag while her client, a recently widowed woman in her mid-50s who asked not to be named, sits on a stool, watching. The woman’s husband died in a car accident a few weeks ago, leaving her to clean out the spacious two-bedroom flat they occupied for 30 years in Tokyo’s trendy Ebisu neighbour­hood. They had no children to lay claim to heirlooms, so her directions to Han were simple: “Get rid of everything.” Han is director of... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2164801/dying-alone-japan-industry-devoted-disposing?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2164801/dying-alone-japan-industry-devoted-disposing?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 22 Sep 2018 02:33:41 +0000 In recent decades, China has been the world’s largest importer of waste, accepting some 279 million metric tonnes of America’s scrap alone over a quarter of a century, including paper and plastic for recycling, as well as mountains from Japan, countries in the European Union and from the developing world. According to Greenpeace, China had become the dumping ground for more than half of the planet’s scrap, at its peak importing almost 9 million tonnes of plastic trash annually. A paper,... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2154105/now-china-refuses-be-dumping-ground-worlds-waste?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2154105/now-china-refuses-be-dumping-ground-worlds-waste?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 09 Jul 2018 12:03:00 +0000 As you dig into your shrimp cocktail this holiday season, spare a thought for the men and women who peeled those tiny crustaceans. According to a six-month Associated Press investigation, there’s a chance the workers were modern-day slaves in Thailand, exploited by shadowy suppliers who have been linked to some of the biggest US supermarket and restaurant chains, from Wal-Mart to the Capital Grille. While horrifying, those revelations are sadly familiar. In- depth investigations of slave labour... https://www.scmp.com/business/global-economy/article/1893843/how-fight-asian-slavery-one-shrimp-supplier-time?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/global-economy/article/1893843/how-fight-asian-slavery-one-shrimp-supplier-time?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 22 Dec 2015 04:15:09 +0000