Latest news with #Gregorian
Saudi Gazette
21 hours ago
- Science
- Saudi Gazette
Earth is spinning faster, leading timekeepers to consider an unprecedented move
WASHIGTON — Earth is spinning faster this summer, making the days marginally shorter and attracting the attention of scientists and timekeepers. July 10 was the shortest day of the year so far, lasting 1.36 milliseconds less than 24 hours, according to data from the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service and the US Naval Observatory, compiled by More exceptionally short days are coming on July 22 and August 5, currently predicted to be 1.34 and 1.25 milliseconds shorter than 24 hours, respectively. The length of a day is the time it takes for the planet to complete one full rotation on its axis —24 hours or 86,400 seconds on average. But in reality, each rotation is slightly irregular due to a variety of factors, such as the gravitational pull of the moon, seasonal changes in the atmosphere and the influence of Earth's liquid core. As a result, a full rotation usually takes slightly less or slightly more than 86,400 seconds — a discrepancy of just milliseconds that doesn't have any obvious effect on everyday life. However these discrepancies can, in the long run, affect computers, satellites and telecommunications, which is why even the smallest time deviations are tracked using atomic clocks, which were introduced in 1955. Some experts believe this could lead to a scenario similar to the Y2K problem, which threatened to bring modern civilization to a halt. Atomic clocks count the oscillations of atoms held in a vacuum chamber within the clock itself to calculate 24 hours to the utmost degree of precision. We call the resulting time UTC, or Coordinated Universal Time, which is based on around 450 atomic clocks and is the global standard for timekeeping, as well as the time to which all our phones and computers are also keep track of Earth's rotation — using satellites that check the position of the planet relative to fixed stars, for example — and can detect minute differences between the atomic clocks' time and the amount of time it actually takes Earth to complete a full rotation. Last year, on July 5, 2024, Earth experienced the shortest day ever recorded since the advent of the atomic clock 65 years ago, at 1.66 milliseconds less than 24 hours.'We've been on a trend toward slightly faster days since 1972,' said Duncan Agnew, a professor emeritus of geophysics at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and a research geophysicist at the University of California, San Diego. 'But there are fluctuations. It's like watching the stock market, really. There are long-term trends, and then there are peaks and falls.'In 1972, after decades of rotating relatively slowly, Earth's spin had accumulated such a delay relative to atomic time that the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service mandated the addition of a 'leap second' to the UTC. This is similar to the leap year, which adds an extra day to February every four years to account for the discrepancy between the Gregorian calendar and the time it takes Earth to complete one orbit around the 1972, a total of 27 leap seconds have been added to the UTC, but the rate of addition has increasingly slowed, due to Earth speeding up; nine leap seconds were added throughout the 1970s while no new leap seconds have been added since 2022, the General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) voted to retire the leap second by 2035, meaning we may never see another one added to the clocks. But if Earth keeps spinning faster for several more years, according to Agnew, eventually one second might need to be removed from the UTC. 'There's never been a negative leap second,' he said, 'but the probability of having one between now and 2035 is about 40%.'The shortest-term changes in Earth's rotation, Agnew said, come from the moon and the tides, which make it spin slower when the satellite is over the equator and faster when it's at higher or lower altitudes. This effect compounds with the fact that during the summer Earth naturally spins faster — the result of the atmosphere itself slowing down due to seasonal changes, such as the jet stream moving north or south; the laws of physics dictate that the overall angular momentum of Earth and its atmosphere must remain constant, so the rotation speed lost by the atmosphere is picked up by the planet itself. Similarly, for the past 50 years Earth's liquid core has also been slowing down, with the solid Earth around it speeding looking at the combination of these effects, scientists can predict if an upcoming day could be particularly short. 'These fluctuations have short-period correlations, which means that if Earth is speeding up on one day, it tends to be speeding up the next day, too,' said Judah Levine, a physicist and a fellow of the National Institute of Standards and Technology in the time and frequency division. 'But that correlation disappears as you go to longer and longer intervals. And when you get to a year, the prediction becomes quite uncertain. In fact, the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service doesn't predict further in advance than a year.'While one short day doesn't make any difference, Levine said, the recent trend of shorter days is increasing the possibility of a negative leap second. 'When the leap second system was defined in 1972, nobody ever really thought that the negative second would ever happen,' he noted. 'It was just something that was put into the standard because you had to do it for completeness. Everybody assumed that only positive leap seconds would ever be needed, but now the shortening of the days makes (negative leap seconds) in danger of happening, so to speak.'The prospect of a negative leap second raises concerns because there are still ongoing problems with positive leap seconds after 50 years, explained Levine. 'There are still places that do it wrong or do it at the wrong time, or do it (with) the wrong number, and so on. And that's with a positive leap second, which has been done over and over. There's a much greater concern about the negative leap second, because it's never been tested, never been tried.'Because so many fundamental technologies systems rely on clocks and time to function, such as telecommunications, financial transactions, electric grids and GPS satellites just to name a few, the advent of the negative leap second is, according to Levine, somewhat akin to the Y2K problem — the moment at the turn of the last century when the world thought a kind of doomsday would ensue because computers might have been unable to negotiate the new date format, going from '99' to '00.'Climate change is also a contributing factor to the issue of the leap second, but in a surprising way. While global warming has had considerable negative impacts on Earth, when it comes to our timekeeping, it has served to counteract the forces that are speeding up Earth's spin. A study published last year by Agnew in the journal Nature details how ice melting in Antarctica and Greenland is spreading over the oceans, slowing down Earth's rotation — much like a skater spinning with their arms over their head, but spinning slower if the arms are tucked along the body.'If that ice had not melted, if we had not had global warming, then we would already be having a leap negative leap second, or we would be very close to having it,' Agnew said. Meltwater from Greenland and Antarctica ice sheets has is responsible for a third of the global sea level rise since 1993, according to mass shift of this melting ice is not only causing changes in Earth's rotation speed, but also in its rotation axis, according to research led by Benedikt Soja, an assistant professor at the department of civil, environmental and geomatic engineering of The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland. If warming continues, its effect might become dominant. 'By the end of this century, in a pessimistic scenario (in which humans continue to emit more greenhouse gases) the effect of climate change could surpass the effect of the moon, which has been really driving Earth's rotation for the past few billions of years,' Soja the moment, potentially having more time to prepare for action is helpful, given the uncertainty of long-term predictions on Earth's spinning behavior. 'I think the (faster spinning) is still within reasonable boundaries, so it could be natural variability,' Soja said. 'Maybe in a few years, we could see again a different situation, and long term, we could see the planet slowing down again. That would be my intuition, but you never know.' — CNN
Time Out Dubai
14-07-2025
- Time Out Dubai
6 new Dubai laws in 2025: public holidays, traffic, public health and more
In a modern city like ours, there are constant updates and changes to rules and regulations that make life ever so slightly better. A significant number of important Dubai laws have been introduced in 2025, affecting everything from our health to how much time off we'll get. New traffic laws have been introduced, which could change how you get around the country, and there has also been a major change affecting takeaways that you may not have noticed. Dubai law: Public health (Credit: Adobe Express) First announced in April and set to be rolled out by the end of July, the new Dubai public health law aims to stop the spread of illnesses and put restrictions on travel for those with confirmed communicable diseases. Travellers must adhere to official health protocols, provide requested information at Dubai's entry points and report any suspected or confirmed communicable diseases. The new law states that you must refrain from travelling or moving, except to healthcare facilities, without the approval of the Dubai Health Authority. If you are travelling while ill, then you must observe hygiene measures such as wearing masks and maintaining physical distancing in line with approved guidelines. UAE law: Public holidays A new UAE public holidays law has come into force which should give us all more time off (Credit: Canva) Introduced on the first day of the year, the new UAE public holiday law established the official days off in the calendar and introduced new rules, meaning that days off could be shifted. A mix of Gregorian and Islamic Hijri calendar dates and occasions has been established. While we know exactly when we'll have time off for UAE National Day and New Year's Day, traditional Islamic occasions are less set in stone as they shift by between 10 and 12 days every year. The new law does, however, state that any occasion, other than Eid Al Adha and Eid Al Fitr, can be transferred to the start or the beginning of a week to give us more long weekends. In 2025, we've already seen the Islamic New Year holiday moved to a Friday even though the occasion itself fell on a Thursday. The national public holiday law also states that each emirate is free to add any other public holiday or occasion that it wishes to celebrate with a day off. Dubai law: Single-use plastic Dubai banned single use products including plastic cups, straws and stirrers on January 1 2025 (Credit: Adobe Express) Dubai introduced a major new single-use plastic ban at the start of the year, which has changed takeaway orders forever. A whole range of products have been banned, including single-use plastic straws, cups and stirrers. Plastic straws have likely been swapped for paper, stirrers for cardboard and cups will have switched to a more eco-friendly material. Table covers, styrofoam food containers and plastic cotton swabs have also been banned in the emirate. It's part of a phased ban on single-use plastics, which saw single-use plastic bags banned in 2024 and will see single-use bowls, plates and cutlery banned from 2026. Separately, the UAE will ban the import, production and trade of single-use plastic products from the start of next year. UAE law: Traffic law The UAE driving age has been lowered (Credit: Adobe Express) The UAE traffic law got a major update in March. A lower minimum age for getting a license has been introduced, allowing young drivers to get behind the wheel at the age of 17 instead of 18. The national law also outlined punishments for driverless car registration, jaywalking punishments and licensing rules. UAE influencer rules New rules for influencers have been introduced (Credit: Canva) The UAE Media Council has issued new regulations which require content creators to get a business licence if they are making money from their online presence. Introduced on Thursday May 29, the law adds an additional step for influencers in Dubai, having previously only required a media licence from the authority. However, content creators will be exempt from the fees required for the business licence for the next three years. The updated system means that there are now a few more hoops to jump through for professional influencers in the UAE. The new rule is part of a wider framework introduced by the UAE Media Council to ensure that content on digital and traditional platforms is ethical, responsible and high-quality. Dubai law: Contracting activities Announced on Sunday July 13 by Sheikh Mohammd bin Rashid, this law will affect contracting work, such as construction, in Dubai. The new regulation establishes a regulatory framework for contractor classification, oversight, transparency and accountability. It applies to all contractors operating in Dubai, including those based in special development zones and free zones such as DIFC. It means that there will be changes to how construction of major projects is carried out in Dubai. However, it will not apply to infrastructure related to either DXB or Al Maktoum International Airport. Making plans? Dubai's best outdoor restaurants, bars and clubs Visit these spots to cool off Dubai's newest restaurants to try The latest openings to tempt your taste buds 12 underrated Dubai restaurants and cafés (that are not tourist traps) Some of our favourite eateries that aren't always in the limelight
Daily Maverick
13-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Maverick
In the Walkman revolution we lost shared listening in an ever-narrowing world
I catch up to things late, always have done. I went, by way of example, from my transistor radio and those finickity cassettes that needed cumbersome cassette recorders to the smartphone with its ability to play music. I skipped over that breakthrough era of the Walkman and evaded the time of the Discman and the portable CD player. I even missed out on MP3 players. I still shake my head: what was I thinking? Why did I never acquaint myself with the latest technology and get myself a device that would have allowed me to hear music inside my head through those spindly, non-earpod but serviceable headphones? Probably the most important thing about the Walkman was that it revolutionised how we listened to music, changing the consumption of music – and all things auditory, such as audiobooks and podcasts. How? By giving us the chance to have a private listening experience, laying down the pathway for individual listening choice. It was a heady breakaway from the 'before' listening times, and took away the constant carping and complaining about whose turn it was. My teen years were hell, an endless negotiation around the inexplicable (to a truculent pre-adult) concept of sharing. I grew up in a family of six, all with particular musical tastes, all needing airtime. My mother liked classical music with religious themes: hymns, Gregorian chants, Handel's Easter music; the Ave Marias (the Bach and Schubert versions). 'Cross yourself music,' my brothers called it, mostly because my God-fearing mother often made the sign of the cross when she heard a particularly stirring liturgical piece. My father liked Elvis Presley, Nat King Cole, Buddy Holly, Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald… played loudly (which annoyed my mother) so he could hear it while he cooked. There was only one turntable built into a cabinet with an open rack that held the long-playing records, or vinyl as they were known, and a radio with a fabric or mesh-fronted speaker and a large knob for a tuning dial. This was in a pride-of-place position in the lounge. Remember, there was no television set, so it was where we sat to listen to whatever was being played – record or radio. Antonette, my six-years-younger baby sister, listened to David Frost narrating fairy tales, The Pied Piper of Hamelin, Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella. She'd happily sing along with the complaining Hamelin rats, resentful about being unloved, bitter about their treatment from humans. Anton came home from boarding school, superior in his new knowledge of the hip music scene, bringing with him the music of Jethro Tull, Shawn Phillips, Pink Floyd, King Crimson, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath… all the colours, my mother used to say. My musical choices included Elton John, Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, Phil Collins, Billy Joel, Rod Stewart, Queen, Fleetwood Mac, the Bee Gees… And, embarrassing to the Naidoos, a deep love of country music: Patsy Cline, Dolly Parton, John Denver. My brother Shaun, learning how to play the piano in those years, listened to everything – it is necessary, he'd say, to hear it all. Necessary, it seems, for the brilliant composer he would become before his untimely death at 49. Everyone had to have a turn. We had to listen to each other's choices – we had no choice. It was communal listening. My hero, John Denver, wrote a song about his grandma's feather bed that could 'hold eight kids and four hound dogs, And a piggy we stole from the shed' on which they 'didn't get much sleep but had a lot of fun'. It was a bit like that in the Naidoo family master bedroom. After dinner, when our teeth were brushed, our faces scrubbed and pyjamas donned, we – along with Timmy, the dog – climbed into my parents' bed to listen to the radio on my dad's bedside table. As the Lost Orchid from a print of Tretchikoff's famous weeping painting looked down on us, we feasted on programmes like Squad Cars, in which the police prowled the empty streets at night, waiting in fast cars and on foot…; The Creaking Door; Test the Team; Inspector Carr Investigates; No Place to Hide with Mark Saxon and Sergei Gromulko; The Mind of Tracy Dark. Family time, a sharing time. Happy squabbling time. And then came the Walkman and everything changed. We no longer had to share. We could plug in our music and listen to whatever we chose. It was always our turn. Over the past 50 years, individual choice has replaced things communal. On a visit to my family in Los Angeles I got sick enough to spend the day in bed. To make sure we still had family time, my sister-in-law, Ann, and nephew, Joe, piled onto my bed. Only each of us had our laptops, each our Airpods, each watched a television series (me), documentary (Ann) or music video (Joe) of our own choosing. In the end, nobody shared what they'd been watching or listening to, I think because we each had such specific personal taste that nobody thought our choice would interest the others. It struck me that because it's always our turn, the algorithm can track us and give us more and more of what it thinks we like or want to see or listen to. And so our world gets narrower and narrower, as do the chances of getting to know arcane religious tracts or becoming familiar with the songs of Bing Crosby or being able to sing along with the rats of Hamelin. You are left with a repertoire of only what you like. As I said, I come late to things and seem to catch on and catch up only when the trend is deeply entrenched. Embarrassingly, I have just discovered podcasts and am listening to a host of views and opinions with which I agree, to which I nod along. A case in point is The Rest Is Politics, hosted by former journalist-turned-strategist and spokesperson for Tony Blair and New Labour Alastair Campbell and British academic, broadcaster, writer and former diplomat and politician Rory Stewart. In a determined attempt to confuse the algorithm, I have resorted to forcing myself to listen to the extremely right-wing views of Donald Trump-supporting Joe Rogan, whose ravings are liberally interspersed with racist epithets. It's a grim business and I find myself vacillating between rage and despair at some of the things people (such as Kash Patel, Trump's director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation) say. But I genuinely believe that the only way to form opinions is to have the views of all sides. DM This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35.
Mint
10-07-2025
- Science
- Mint
Buck moon to be visible tonight: What is it and how to spot it
The first full moon of the astronomical summer in the Northern Hemisphere is set to appear on Thursday, July 10. Called the Buck Moon, it will be one of the lowest-hanging full moons of the year. The buck moon represents the first full moon of July each year. This moon typically appears brighter and sits lower in the sky due to its proximity to the summer solstice — the time when one of Earth's poles leans most sharply toward the Sun, an event that occurs twice a year. As per NASA, the buck moon's proximity to the horizon throughout the night will enhance its apparent size and color, making it appear larger than usual. The "moon illusion" is the name for this trick our brains play on us The July buck moon is often coincides with Guru Purnima - full moon of the Hindu month of Ashadha, which aligns with July's first full moon on the Gregorian calendar. The Buck Moon is named for new-growth antlers on male deer that emerge in July in North America. Some Native American tribes refer to buck moon as the 'Thunder Moon' because it appears during a time when seasonal thunderstorms are common in parts of the US. Others call it the 'Salmon Moon,' as it marks the period when salmon start their yearly journey upstream. Although the moon officially reaches its full phase at 4:38 p.m. EDT on June 10, that moment occurs while the moon is still below the horizon for viewers in North America. The best time to see the full Buck Moon will be at moonrise, at dusk, on Thursday evening, as per LiveScience In India, the buck moon will visible 20 min after the sun set. For the best view of the Buck Moon, look toward the southeast horizon, where it will first appear. Try to choose a spot with an open, unobstructed view in that direction.
Indian Express
09-07-2025
- Science
- Indian Express
Buck moon to be visible tomorrow night: What is it and how to spot it
July is packed with back-to-back exciting celestial events, indeed an exciting time for stargazers. One of the most anticipated events this month is the first full moon, also known as the buck moon. The moon is set to appear in all its glory in the night sky on Thursday, July 10. But what is the buck moon, what does its peculiar name mean, and why is it special? The buck moon represents the first full moon of July each year. This moon usually appears brighter than usual and lower than usual. This is due to its proximity to the summer solstice, a biennial event where one of Earth's poles is tilted toward the Sun at its most extreme angle. The summer solstice causes the Sun to be at its highest position in the daytime sky, causing the moon to take its lowest path in the night sky. The July buck moon is also frequently on the same day as Guru Purnima, the festival celebrating teachers and wisdom. This is due to Guru Purnima being the full moon of the Hindu month of Ashadha, which aligns with July's first full moon on the Gregorian calendar. The term 'buck moon' traces back to the Algonquin people, a tribe of Native Americans who used the moon cycles to track natural cycles. The buck moon got its name, as male deers (also known as bucks) would begin regrowing their antlers around the time of the first full moon. This moon is also called the 'thunder moon' by other Native American tribes, as it was an indication of seasonal thunderstorms observed at this time in parts of the US. Another name given by American tribes is also 'salmon moon', due to it being at the approximate time salmon begin their seasonal migration and begin swimming upstream. This year's buck moon occurs just a week after Earth reached aphelion – the time when Earth's orbit is farthest from the Sun. This means that it will be the farthest full moon from the Sun in 2025. This buck moon will also be the lowest buck moon in recent times. This is due to a rare phenomenon known as 'Major Lunar Standstill', that occurs when the Sun's gravity pulls the moon to its most extreme incline relative to the celestial equator of the Earth. This phenomenon occurs once every 18.6 years and is going to affect the buck moon as well. The buck moon will likely have a reddish-gold hue soon after rising. This is caused by an effect called 'Rayleigh scattering', as sunlight that is reflected from the moon's surface travels a longer distance to Earth. If the night offers clear skies and you use binoculars, you could see more features of the moon, such as the bright-rayed Tycho crater and the darker basalt plains. To get the best experience of the buck moon, try to find a place with a clear view toward the southeast, as the buck moon will appear first in the southeast horizon. It is ideal to also find a location with clear skies and limited pollution in the air. While having access to a telescope could give the clearest sighting of the buck moon, some features will even be clear enough with binoculars or the naked eye. With the Sun expected to set at 7:21 pm IST tomorrow, start observing the sky approximately 20 minutes after sunset, likely to be around 7:40 pm. That is when the buck moon will be first visible. For the clearest viewing experience, it is recommended to view the buck moon at its peak, where it will appear the largest and seem to be directly overhead. This will occur at around 2:08 am. (This article has been curated by Purv Ashar, who is an intern with The Indian Express)
