As the scale of science expands, so does the language of prefixes
Giga- and nano- are not the final frontier
NOWADAYS EVERY factory seems to be a “gigafactory”. Elon Musk, the boss of Tesla, recently cut the ribbon on a fourth facility by that name, in Berlin. Tesla’s Shanghai Gigafactory has been in the news for a covid-related halt in production. The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), one of the world’s most important chipmakers, has begun touting its “gigafabs”. Nissan has announced a gigafactory in Sunderland, in the north-east of England.
This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “Beyond the giga-zone”
Culture April 9th 2022
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- Glenn Gould’s radio documentaries are still mesmerising
- As the scale of science expands, so does the language of prefixes
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