The world depends on a collection of strange items. They're not cheap

This government warehouse keeps our entire society up to standard. Part of this video was sponsored by Google Domains. Take the first step to get online with a domain name from Google Domains - go to domains.google/veritasium to get 20% off your first year. #GoogleDomains ▀▀▀ Thanks to Rich Press and NIST for the great visit. Thanks to Dr. Steve Choquette, Dr. Ben Place, and Dr. Johanna Camara for teaching us about the world of Standard Reference Materials. You can check out all the cool work going on at NIST here: https://www.nist.gov/ ▀▀▀ References: NIST (2022). Standard Reference Materials. – https://ve42.co/WhyStandard2022 Montgomery, R. & Bercik, I. (2022). NIST Standard Reference Materials 2022 Catalog. – https://ve42.co/SRMCatalog Vincent, J. (2022). Made to measure: why we can’t stop quantifying our lives. The Guardian – https://ve42.co/Vincent2022 Proffitt, A. (2022). NIST Develops Monkeypox Reference Materials, Sees Growing Role in Outbreak Response. Diagnostics World. – https://ve42.co/Proffitt2022 ▀▀▀ Special thanks to our Patreon supporters: James Sanger, Louis Lebbos, Elliot Miller, Brian Busbee, Jerome Barakos M.D., Amadeo Bee, TTST, Balkrishna Heroor, Chris LaClair, John H. Austin Jr., OnlineBookClub.org, Matthew Gonzalez, Eric Sexton, John Kiehl, Diffbot, Gnare, Dave Kircher, Burt Humburg, Blake Byers, Evgeny Skvortsov, Meekay, Bill Linder, Paul Peijzel, Josh Hibschman, Mac Malkawi, Mike Schneider, John Bauer, Jim Buckmaster, Juan Benet, Sunil Nagaraj, Richard Sundvall, Lee Redden, Stephen Wilcox, Marinus Kuivenhoven, Michael Krugman, Cy 'kkm' K'Nelson, Sam Lutfi ▀▀▀ Written by Derek Muller & Emily Zhang Edited by Trenton Oliver Animation by Ivy Tello & Mike Radjabov Filmed by Derek Muller, Trenton Oliver, and Emily Zhang Additional video/photos supplied by Pond5 & Getty Images Music from Epidemic Sound Produced by Derek Muller, Petr Lebedev, and Emily Zhang