“An international argument has developed between British astronomers and scientists working for American telecommunications firms who have called for the abolition of the “leap second” – the additional time unit used to keep modern atomic time-measuring systems in line with the earth’s movement round the sun. Removing that extra second would make some communication systems run more smoothly, but very slowly the clock would start to fall out of sync with the sun, eventually leading to 12 noon falling in the middle of the night.”