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World’s Timekeepers Upend How They Adjust Time to Avoid Catastrophic ‘Negative Second’
The proposal would let Coordinated Universal Time drift from Earth’s rotation and replace leap seconds with a possible leap hour centuries ahead.
- The General Conference on Weights and Measures is meeting in Versailles from October 13 to 15, 2026, to vote on abolishing the leap second. The proposed resolution would transition Coordinated Universal Time to a continuous time scale.
- Since 1972, timekeepers have added 27 leap seconds to align atomic clocks with Earth's irregular rotation, primarily driven by the Moon's gravitational pull. These adjustments maintain consistency despite constant fluctuations from atmospheric and geological factors.
- Leap seconds frequently disrupt modern computer systems; platforms like Reddit and Cloudflare have experienced crashes when software assumes time only moves forward. Google and Meta now use 'smearing' to gradually spread extra seconds, strongly advocating for abolition.
- If the resolution passes, UTC will allow a drift of up to 3,600 seconds, or one hour, from Earth's rotation. The organization would eventually introduce a 'leap hour' to minimize risks from testing negative leap seconds.
- Although celestial navigators must manage this increasing time variance, Professor Darryl Veitch, a researcher at the University of Technology Sydney, predicts software automation will address these issues within 100 years. Implementation begins May 20, 2027.
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167 Articles
Timekeepers Vote to Make 'Leap Second' a Full Hour
Time is up for the "leap second." The timekeeping fix was voted out of existence Thursday by scientists, graduates, and timekeepers at the General Conference on Weights and Measures in France, Smithsonian magazine reports. The idea is to let these seconds, which are added every few years, accumulate until a...
·Miami, United States
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From 2027 the astronomical time and the highly precise time of the atomic clocks will drift apart again.
·Zürich, Switzerland
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This step symbolically signifies the formal separation of official timekeeping from the natural, cosmic rhythm by which humanity has lived for centuries.
·Ljubljana, Slovenia
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Coverage Details
Total News Sources167
Leaning Left24Leaning Right21Center27Last UpdatedBias Distribution38% Center
Bias Distribution
- 38% of the sources are Center
38% Center
L 33%
C 38%
R 29%
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