With all the events going on in the world it passed almost unnoticed that a decision was made recently to abolish the leap second. The resolution was made on 18 November 2022 during a meeting held in Paris held by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures. What is a leap second? The length of… Continue reading No more leap seconds
Over the next few weeks much of the world's media will be focused on Sharm El Sheik in Egypt, where the United Nations Climate Change conference is taking place. My own view is that our chances of significantly reducing carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere over the next 10-15 years or so don’t look particularly… Continue reading COP27 November 2022
Updated 16 December 2015 It is more than 68 years since the launch of Sputnik 2 on November 3 1957 by the Soviet Union. It was only the second spacecraft to go into space and followed the successful launch of Sputnik 1 in October 1957. Sputnik 1 was a small metal sphere whose only piece… Continue reading Sputnik 2
In the early hours of Sunday 30 October the clocks go back an hour throughout most of Europe and daylight saving time (DST) comes to an end. In this post I'll talk about the practice of putting the clocks backwards and forwards and why it is falling out of favour The beginning of DST… Continue reading Daylight Saving Time ends 2022
Updated 17 December Despite the somewhat difficult relations between Russia and the West in the last few years, it is worth looking back over 68 years to October 1957 and the launch of the first artificial satellite Sputnik 1. This historic event, which caught many in the West by complete surprise, was the beginning of… Continue reading 4 October 1957 – Sputnik 1
Explaining Science 