All posts tagged: clocks

Daylight saving time 2024: Do clocks go forward or back this weekend?

Daylight saving time 2024: Do clocks go forward or back this weekend?

Published by skeptic

Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more As the colder months draw near, many US citizens will also see more hours of daylight in the mornings and darker evenings – due to the end of daylight saving time (DST). Daylight saving time is the practice of setting the clock forward an hour each spring, beginning on the second Sunday in March and ending on the first Sunday in November. However, that wasn’t always the case. This year, daylight saving time ends on Sunday, November 3 – when most people in the US will get an extra hour of sleep. When does DST begin and end? In the US, daylight saving time begins on the second Sunday of March, which fell on March 10, 2024. At 2am local time, the clocks were …

When do the clocks go back this weekend? UK date and time

When do the clocks go back this weekend? UK date and time

Published by skeptic

Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more It’s official: autumn is well and truly upon us, which means it’s nearly time for the clocks to go back. While the arrival of winter brings darker mornings and evenings, turning the clocks back allows us to have more sunlight in the morning. Plus, on the day the clocks change we get an extra hour in bed too, so we’re not complaining. Here’s everything you need to know about when and why the clocks go back: When do the clocks going back in 2024? This year, the clocks will go back an hour on Sunday, 27 October. Each year, the clocks go back an hour at 2am on the last Sunday of October. When this occurs, the UK will switch from British Summer Time …

Why night owls struggle more when the clocks go back

Why night owls struggle more when the clocks go back

Published by skeptic

When the clocks go back and we gain an extra hour, it might seem like a welcome bonus. But not for everyone. Night owls, those who naturally prefer staying up late and waking up late, often find this time of year particularly difficult. The explanation lies in the the science of our internal clocks. Chronotypes are our natural preference for waking and sleeping at certain times, whether you’re an early bird who springs out of bed with the dawn or a night owl who comes alive in the evening. This variation is partly genetic, and it also influences our body’s natural rhythms, like hormone release and body temperature fluctuations. During the day, the hormone cortisol increases to help us feel alert and energised, while another hormone, melatonin, which induces sleepiness, is produced more in the evening. Similarly, our body temperature fluctuates, generally reaching its peak in the late afternoon and dropping during the night to facilitate sleep. When the clocks go back, night owls often face a double burden. Their biological rhythm is already shifted …

The Steampunk Clocks of 19th-Century Paris: Discover the Ingenious System That Revolutionized Timekeeping in the 1880s

The Steampunk Clocks of 19th-Century Paris: Discover the Ingenious System That Revolutionized Timekeeping in the 1880s

Published by José

A mid­dle-class Parisian liv­ing around the turn of the twen­ti­eth cen­tu­ry would have to bud­get for ser­vices like not just water or gas, but also time. Though elec­tric clocks had been demon­strat­ed, they were still a high-tech rar­i­ty; installing one in the home would have been com­plete­ly out of the ques­tion. If you want­ed to syn­chro­nize time­keep­ing across an entire major city, it made more sense to use a proven, reli­able, and much cheap­er infra­struc­ture: pipes full of com­pressed air. Paris’ pneu­mat­ic postal sys­tem had been in ser­vice since 1866, and in 1877, Vien­na had demon­strat­ed that the same basic tech­nol­o­gy could be used to run clocks. “The idea was to have a mas­ter clock in the cen­ter of Paris that would send out a pulse each minute to syn­chro­nize every clock around the city,” writes Ewan Cun­ning­ham at Pri­mal Neb­u­la, on a com­pan­ion page to the Pri­mal Space video above. “The clocks wouldn’t have to be pow­ered, the bursts of air would sim­ply move all the clocks in the sys­tem for­ward at the same …

500-year-old maths problem turns out to apply to coffee and clocks

500-year-old maths problem turns out to apply to coffee and clocks

Published by skeptic

Light reflecting off the round rim creates a mathematically significant shape in this coffee cup Sarah Hart The following is an extract from our Lost in Space-Time newsletter. Each month, we hand over the keyboard to a physicist or mathematician to tell you about fascinating ideas from their corner of the universe. You can sign up for Lost in Space-Time for free here. The artist Paul Klee famously described drawing as “taking a line for a walk” – but why stop there? Mathematicians have been wondering for five centuries what happens when… Source link

Climate change can disturb the accuracy of trees’ biological clocks

Climate change can disturb the accuracy of trees’ biological clocks

Published by skeptic

Nothofagus pumilio trees growing in Patagonia Album/Alamy The higher temperatures brought on by global warming can disrupt trees’ ability to track time, with potential consequences for their capacity to sequester carbon or even survive. Climate change is already disturbing the timings of events in ecosystems by shuffling migrations, breeding, and food cycles that have historically been intricately coordinated. But like humans and other animals, plants have a genetic ability to track time that functions independently of their ecosystems. María Verónica Arana at Argentina’s National Scientific and Technical Research Council… Source link

Moon to get its own time zone created by NASA – but clocks work differently there | Science & Tech News

Moon to get its own time zone created by NASA – but clocks work differently there | Science & Tech News

Published by skeptic

The moon will get its own time zone after the White House directed NASA to develop a unified lunar time standard by the end of 2026. The Coordinated Lunar Time, or LTC, would provide a time-keeping benchmark for lunar spacecraft and satellites that will require extreme precision for their missions. Having a standard lunar time is vital – and complicated – because time unfolds differently on the moon compared to how it is perceived on Earth due to the difference in gravitational force. “The same clock that we have on Earth would move at a different rate on the moon,” Kevin Coggins, NASA’s space communications and navigation chief, said in an interview. For a person on the moon, an Earth-based clock would appear to lose on average 58.7 microseconds per Earth-day, the head of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) said in a memo. Other periodic variations would further drift moon time from Earth time, Arati Prabhakar added. The OSTP instructed NASA to work with other parts of the US government …

Best Sunrise Alarm Clocks for 2024

Best Sunrise Alarm Clocks for 2024

Published by skeptic

$39 at Amazon Jall Wake Up Light Sunrise Alarm Clock Best sunrise alarm clock on a budget $99 at Amazon Lumie Bodyclock Rise 100 Best no-frills sunrise alarm clock $25 at Amazon LIFX smart bulbs and your own lamp DIY sunrise alarm clock No one likes waking up to a loud alarm in the morning. It can arguably make your mood even worse when you have to wake up early. If you’re thinking about switching, these are the best sunrise alarm clocks to get your morning started with a calming wake-up call. A sunrise alarm clock is designed to create more peaceful mornings and wake-up routines. My mornings have never been better since I got rid of my regular alarm clock and started using a sunrise. They work by emitting light, as opposed to an anxiety-inducing sound, creating the illusion that you’re waking up to the sun peeking through your window. They can also help with your mental health in winter or if you live in places where sun exposure is limited and seasonal affective disorder takes …

How The Clocks Going Forward Impacts People Living With Dementia

How The Clocks Going Forward Impacts People Living With Dementia

Published by Sam

This Sunday, March 31st, the clocks go forward by one hour, which marks the start of longer, brighter days, for another six months before they go back an hour again. For some of us, this is a welcome change. The start of spring can mean fresh, new beginnings and shaking off the mental cobwebs that were woven during long winter days. However, for those that live with dementia, this can be an incredibly disorienting change, according to Alzheimer’s Society. This is because, as our days get longer and brighter, people living with dementia may find it harder to differentiate between 6am and 6pm. This disrupts their natural circadian rhythm and make it hard for them, and those who care for them, to ensure they get enough sleep. Of course, losing sleep can lead to irritability, tiredness, and sometimes even distress. How to help people with dementia through clock changes Alzheimer’s Society explained how to help people living with dementia through these changes, to ensure minimal disruption and distress. Start making changes from Saturday Consider starting …