Time flies: The Earth is rotating faster than expected
Did you ever wish that 2020 — the year which brought us a worldwide plague, a massive economic recession and the potential fall of American democracy — could have gone by a little more quickly? According to scientists, it actually did: The Earth rotated on its axis at an unusually fast speed throughout the year, with 28 of the planet's fastest days on record since 1960 all occurring in 2020. If the Earth's rotation continues to accelerate, scientists may be required to add a negative leap second to our clocks. "It's quite possible that a negative leap second will be needed if the Earth's rotation rate increases further, but it's too early to say if this is likely to happen," Peter Whibberley, a physicist at the National Physics Laboratory in the U.K., told The Telegraph. "There are also international discussions taking place about the future of leap seconds, and it's also possible that the need for a negative leap second might push the decision towards ending leap seconds for good."
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