A faster spinning Earth may cause timekeepers to subtract a second from world clocks

For the first time in history, world timekeepers may have to consider subtracting a second from our clocks in a few years because the planet is rotating a tad faster. Wednesday's study in a scientific journal says that clocks may have to skip in a second — called a “negative leap second” — around 2029. Ice melting at both of Earth’s poles has been counteracting the planet's burst of speed and is likely to have delayed the global second of reckoning by about three years. It’s a complicated situation that involves, physics, global power politics, climate change, technology and two types of time.