Spectrum News: Explaining the significance of Leap Year
UC faculty Rebecca Borah is media guest on regional programing
If we didn’t have Leap years the world calendar and the seasons would be a jumble, UC’s Rebecca Borah tells Spectrum News in a segment on the science behind Leap Year.
Earth takes almost 365 days, five hours and 49 minutes every year to make a full rotation around the sun. That is nearly six hours more per year, adding up to 24 hours over the course of four years.
Without an adjustment, “...it would start to have more of an effect on our calendars and eventually the seasons would slide in a different direction in our calendars,” Borah said in a live interview with Spectrum News.
Borah is a professor in UC’s Department of English who researches myths, legends and lore and often provides media commentary on traditional — and not so traditional — observances that have both cultural and scientific basis in history.
Featured image at top of watch face: iStock Photo/volodar
Impact Lives Here
The University of Cincinnati is leading public urban universities into a new era of innovation and impact. Our faculty, staff and students are saving lives, changing outcomes and bending the future in our city's direction. Next Lives Here.
Related Stories
UC Board of Trustees approves $12 million for building design phase for new welcome gateway
March 13, 2026
The UC Board of Trustees approved $12 million at its Feb. 24 meeting for the design phase of a new Welcome Gateway Building for Uptown campus.
Dual-arm robot stabilizes satellite for repairs in space
March 13, 2026
Interesting Engineering highlights an aerospace engineering research project examining novel ways to keep repair robots oriented in space.
Scientists discover how snakes stand upright without limbs
March 12, 2026
Earth.com highlights a study co-authored by UC Professor Bruce Jayne, an expert in snake locomotion, about how snakes stand upright without arms or legs.