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Our planet is spinning faster than ever recorded, and nobody knows why it’s happening.
Imagine waking up one morning and finding out your day is just a little shorter than usual, not by hours but by a few milliseconds. Sounds strange, right? Well, that’s exactly what’s happening. Earth is spinning faster than it has in decades, and scientists are still trying to figure out why.
On July 10, 2025, the planet completed one of its shortest days ever, running 1.36 milliseconds faster than the normal 24 hours. That might not sound like much, but this trend has been picking up speed since 2020. Experts believe we could see even shorter days by late July and early August.
So, what’s making Earth spin faster? The answer isn’t simple. A big part of it has to do with the Moon. Twice a month, when the Moon lines up near the equator, its gravity slows Earth’s spin just a little. But when the Moon moves toward the poles, it actually helps Earth rotate faster.
Seasons also play a role. During summer, changes in the jet stream cause the atmosphere to slow down slightly. To keep things balanced, Earth itself spins a bit faster to maintain overall momentum.
Then comes the really odd part. Earth’s liquid core has been slowing down for about 50 years. To make up for it, the solid part of Earth is spinning a bit faster. Scientists, including Duncan Agnew from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, admit they still don’t know why this is happening or what might come next.
At the same time, climate change is pushing in the opposite direction. As ice melts from Greenland and Antarctica, the shifting mass of water across the oceans slows Earth’s rotation. It’s like a figure skater spinning slower when they stretch out their arms. Without this melting, our days might already be even shorter.
You won’t feel a missing millisecond in your daily life, but technology might. Since 1972, experts have added 27 “leap seconds” to keep atomic clocks in sync with Earth’s spin. Now, with the planet speeding up, scientists may have to do something never done before: add a negative leap second by 2029.
That could create real problems for computers, GPS systems, and telecom networks that rely on exact timing. Some engineers fear it might trigger glitches similar to the old Y2K bug since many systems aren’t built to handle time moving backward.
For now, researchers are closely tracking every tiny change in Earth’s rotation. The faster spin might not last forever, but it’s a powerful reminder that even something as constant as a day isn’t as steady as we once believed.
