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
Ticks that survive pesticides can withstand colder winters
July 17, 2026
Ticks that survive less-than-lethal doses of pesticide are able to withstand dangerous cold, which could help them expand their range farther north, according to researchers at the University of Cincinnati and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Why does it feel like so many Cincinnati restaurants close?
July 17, 2026
WLWT and the Cincinnati Enquirer cited UC research in reports on recent restaurant closures in the city.
UC has connection to city of legend behind 'Odyssey'
July 17, 2026
WVXU highlights a big connection between Cincinnati and director Christopher Nolan's new movie "The Odyssey." UC Classics Professor Carl Blegen led excavations at Troy in the 1930s. UC has a vast collection of photos and other records from the ambitious archaeological project.