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FRI, 16 OCT · 86 ITEMS
The Register, Scientific American, Daily Mail + 2 more · Science & Medicine
5 outletsFraming varies: Coverage is largely aligned in reporting the decision, but right-leaning source (Daily Mail) uses sensationalist language ('huge shakeup') and emphasizes the potential for clock drift, while centre-left sources (Scientific American, Guardian) focus on the technical rationale and orderly transition. The Register provides technical background.
The International Bureau of Weights and Measures () has voted to discontinue the use of leap seconds, the periodic one-second adjustments added to Coordinated Universal Time () since 1972 to keep atomic clocks in sync with Earth's rotation. Instead, clocks will be allowed to gradually drift from astronomical time, with a leap minute or leap hour added only after several decades of accumulated discrepancy. The decision, taken at a meeting in Versailles, resolves a long-standing conflict between precision timekeeping and the operational headaches leap seconds cause for computer networks and satellite systems. The phase-out is expected to begin by 2027 or 2035, depending on the final implementation plan.
The claim is well-founded on the outcome of a formal vote by BIPM member states, reported by multiple reputable scientific and news outlets including Nature, The Guardian, and Scientific American, all of which cite the meeting's decision directly. The reporting is close to the primary source—the BIPM resolution—and there is no contradiction across sources, though the exact timeline for phasing out leap seconds may still be subject to interpretation.
This is genuinely new as of the October 14–15, 2026 BIPM meeting; no recirculation date applies.