Cambridge (UK) – Physicist Stephen Hawking helped unveil what may be most scary clock in the world. The Corpus Clock, located at the University of Cambridge, visualizes the belief that time will always be against us. A grasshopper/locust sits atop the dial, eating away every second of our life, swallowing minutes and hours with pleasure. You could get very depressed watching this $2 million clock tick away – or you may see this time-eater as an image to highlight the value of every second that is given to us.

The unusual clock, designed by John Taylor and unveiled by Stephen Hawking, took five years to create and makes a big statement through its gold-plated, almost 4 foot-wide dial and a gold-encrusted monster, part grasshopper, part locust sitting on top of it. As the time passes, the grasshopper/locust turns the dial, sixty times a second, and eats minutes and hours with opening jaws and shaking tail.

The time (hours, minutes, seconds) is shown through slits in the dial, which are illuminated with blue LEDs. "It is terrifying, it is meant to be," Taylor told The Guardian. "Basically I view time as not on your side. He'll eat up every minute of your life, and as soon as one has gone he's salivating for the next. It's not a bad thing to remind students of. I never felt like this until I woke up on my 70th birthday, and was stricken at the thought of how much I still wanted to do, and how little time remained."

"I also wanted to depict that time is a destroyer - once a minute is gone you can't get it back,” he said.

Taylor, who amassed a fortune by inventing and selling kettle thermostats, said that it took 200 people and an investment of £1 million, almost $2 million, to build the lock. Its electric motor is expected to last for about 25 years.

More information:
The Corpus Clock at the University of Cambridge

My favourite clock design...

Sep 19, 2008 21:32     

Was the one of Majora Mask game. It is weird at first,but once the person could "get it", it was very easy to "read" the hours in it.
Vitor report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +2

Awesome, if a bit noisy

Sep 20, 2008 00:55     

I love the look of this clock and the simple but cleaver engineering. I wouldn't love the noise that it makes though.
9Nails report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

That is THE most

Sep 20, 2008 01:50     

Scientifically badass clock I have EVER seen.
Khalil R report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Seems to take 5 seconds to eat a minute, but it cou...

Sep 20, 2008 02:12     

Seems to take 5 seconds to eat a minute, but it counts to 60 then resumes at 1, so it loses 4 seconds every minutes, unless the seconds are off to start with.
Chris report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

I built a God clock

Sep 20, 2008 07:13     

I built a God clock. It depicts a supreme being continually creating more seconds out to eternity.
Harry Mangurian report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +1

The unusual clock ... took five years to create...

Sep 22, 2008 11:44     

There's 5 years they'll never get back.
Brahe report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +1

Just a theory....

Sep 24, 2008 18:10     

It has been said that black holes slow, or stop time, through their massive gravity. That said.. and the center of our galaxy is a huge gravity well. (possibly a black hole) As as result, time is against us. For whatever we do, we our stuck in our own slow, moving death, which is normal to us because we are not the observer, but the victims. Or am I just smoking crack?
AlfaError report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Time is always...

May 18, 2009 23:21     

"Time is always against us" -Mopheus-
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