News
Climate change could affect timekeeping, study says
Climate change is affecting the speed of the Earth’s rotation and could impact how we keep time, a study says.
Accelerating melt from Greenland and Antarctica is adding extra water to the world’s seas, redistributing mass. That is very slightly slowing the Earth’s rotation. But the planet is still spinning faster than it used to. The effect is that global timekeepers may need to subtract a second from our clocks later than would otherwise have been the case.
“Global warming is already affecting global timekeeping,” says the study, published in the journal Nature.
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) – which is used by most of the world to regulate clocks and time – is calculated by the Earth’s rotation.
But the Earth’s rotation rate is not constant and can therefore have an effect on how long our days and nights are.
Changes to the planet’s liquid core have meant the Earth has been spinning slightly quicker.
Since the 1970s, to correct for this, about 27 leap seconds have been added to the global clock, with timekeepers planning on subtracting a second for the first time in 2026. This is known as a “negative leap second.”
However, the study finds that ice melt caused by climate change has partly offset that acceleration.
Ice sheets are now losing mass five times faster than they were 30 years ago, meaning that the negative leap second change will not be needed until 2029, the study suggests.
“It’s kind of impressive, even to me, we’ve done something that measurably changes how fast the Earth rotates,” Duncan Agnew, the author of the study, told NBC News.
“Things are happening that are unprecedented.” The negative leap second has never been used before and, according to the study, its use “will pose an unprecedented problem” for computer systems across the world. “This has never happened before, and poses a major challenge to making sure that all parts of the global timing infrastructure show the same time,” Mr Agnew, who is a researcher at the University of California, San Diego told AFP news agency.
“Many computer programs for leap seconds assume they are all positive, so these would have to be rewritten,” he added.
There has been some scepticism of the study, however.
Demetrios Matsakis, former chief scientist for time services at the US Naval Observatory, told AFP that “Earth is too unpredictable to be sure” if a negative leap second would be needed any time soon.
Human activities like burning fossil fuels are causing world temperatures to rise. That temperature rise is having a huge effect on the environment, including the rapid melting of glaciers and ice sheets.
(BBC)
News
Formulation of a Draft Economic Development Bill to expedite the process of Digital Transformation and Digital Economic Development
It is essential to establish an institutional framework with legal powers to ensure the effective implementation of national digital policy and guidelines.
Quality human capital should be attracted to this institutional framework for the compilation of policies, implementation of policies, regulation, and empowerment of operations. The continuous participation of the private sector should also be considered in establishing a strong institutional framework.
It has been further identified that attention should also be
drawn to new fields of digital innovation, including support for artificial intelligence and related activities.
Taking into consideration the aforementioned matters, a concept paper has been formulated to prepare a Draft Economic Development Bill for the establishment of a new institutional framework.
Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers has approved the resolution furnished by the President in his capacity as the Minister of Digital Economy to instruct legal draftsman to formulate a Draft Economic Development Bill based on the aforementioned concept paper.
The Sri Lanka Community and Health Survey is the main data source for obtaining necessary information for reviewing progress toward achieving the national health development goals, as well as the expected sustainable development goals by 2030.
The last survey was conducted in the year 2016, and the Sri Lanka Community and Health Survey should be conducted to obtain updated data to enable the collection of related data and indicators concerning the health and well-being targets of the Global Sustainable Development Objectives.
Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers has approved the resolution furnished by the President in his capacity as the Minister of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development to take necessary steps to conduct the aforementioned survey.
The access to secure, reliable and affordable drinking water and adequate sanitation facilities is essential to maintain public health, promote social well-being and foster economic development.
The Sri Lankan Government recognizes water supply and sanitation services as both an economic good and a basic human need. Therefore, when pricing for water and sanitation, a balance should be maintained between the financial sustainability of the service providers and the requirement to ensure fair and affordable access for all strata in the society.
Accordingly, the Sri Lankan government has identified the necessity of a national water supply that is sensitive to gender equality and social integration applicable to all water supply and sanitation service providers. At present, there is no formal national framework for setting, reviewing, approving, and implementing tariffs for water supply systems operated by various water supply providers as well as for setting, reviewing, approving, and implementing tariffs for sanitation systems.
Therefore, the Ministry of Housing, Construction, and Water Supply has formulated a water tariff policy covering all water supply service providers under the Sri Lanka Water Supply and Sanitation Sector Reform Program, which is a policy-based loan program implemented under Asian Development Bank funds.
Formulation of a Draft Economic Development Bill to expedite the process of Digital Transformation and Digital Economic Development
Cabinet approval for Sri Lanka Community and Health Survey – 2026/2027
A National Water Tariff Policy for all Water Supply and Sanitation Services
National Policy on Green Hydrogen in Sri Lanka
Cabinet nod to amend the Customs Ordinance
Cabinet nod to submit the Anti-Corruption (Declaration of Assets and Liabilities through Centralized Electronic System) Regulations 2026, made under Section 156 of the Anti-Corruption Act, No.9 of 2023, for approval by Parliament
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