Google creates a new unit of time so 2016 doesn’t break the Internet

The 'leap second' is officially a thing now.

Yep, because of the Earth's shifting rotation, 2016 is going to be one second longer this year in order to adjust with the planet.

However, the 'leap second' is apparently going to cause major confusion to computers, as of all things, they're not equipped to handle a 61-second minute.

And so, Goggle has decided to create a new unit of time, called 'smeared time', that will stretch out regular seconds to make them last longer.

The new measure will be applied to Google's Network Time Protocol, which will allow the tech giant to keep all machines using its servers to withstand the extra second.

Google said: "At the beginning of the leap second, smeared time will be just under 0.5s behind UTC.

"UTC will insert an additional second while smeared time continues uninterrupted, causing smeared time to become just under 0.5s ahead of UTC when the leap second ends."

So just as the clock strikes midnight, if you're not kissing someone, have a look because time keepers said we can expect the clocks to read 11:59:60 instead of 11:59:59.