There is simply no substitute for being prepared by bringing a map and compass. While compasses are an essential piece of gear for anyone going into the backcountry for safety reasons, they also play ...

A team of physicists and engineers at the CU Boulder has discovered a new way to measure the orientation of magnetic fields using what may be the tiniest compasses around—atoms. The group’s findings ...

Quantum compasses need six atom interferometers, each the size of a small room, to work. But scientists have made crucial steps to miniaturizing these devices. When you purchase through links on ...

But how exactly did they know where they were going? A recent study, focused on a set of medieval stone disks found in Ukraine, supports the belief that Viking sailors used solar compasses to navigate ...

IT HELPS GUIDE YOU TO WHERE YOU’RE GOING AND REMINDS YOU OF WHERE YOU’VE BEEN. BUT WHERE DO COMPASSES THEMSELVES COME FROM? IF YOU THINK NEWPORT OR MARBLEHEAD OR SOME OTHER FAMOUS BOATING ...

The earliest known compasses were made in China’s Han Dynasty, between 300 and 200 BCE. These simple instruments were made from a lodestone—a naturally occurring, magnetically-charged mineral ...