By using ultrafast laser flashes, scientists at the University of Rostock in collaboration with researchers of the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research in Stuttgart have generated and measured the shortest electron pulse to date. The electron pulse was created by using lasers to remove electrons from a tiny metal tip and lasted only 53 attoseconds, that is, 53 billionths of a billionth of a second. The event has set a new speed record in man-made control of electric currents in solid materials.