Humanity is closer to destroying itself, according to atomic scientists who revealed on Tuesday that the famous “Doomsday Clock” was set to 89 seconds to midnight — the closest it has ever been.
The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, a science-oriented advocacy group, made the announcement Tuesday morning, metaphorically rating how close humankind is to annihilating itself with human-made advancements.
“We set the clock closer to midnight because we do not see positive progress on the global challenges we face including nuclear risk, climate change, biological threats and advances in disruptive technologies,” Daniel Holz, chair of the Bulletin’s Science and Security Board, said.
Trusted news and daily delights, right in your inbox
See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories.
The group of scientists say the war in Ukraine “could become nuclear at any moment” and a wider regional war in the Middle East could “spiral out of control,” while countries with nuclear weapons are increasing their arsenals. They say the global attempts to reduce climate change “remains poor,” as governments aren’t enacting the necessary policies to halt global warming. The development of biotechnology and artificial intelligence “far outpaced policy, regulation and a thorough understanding of their consequences,” Holz said.
“In setting the clock forward, we send a stark signal. Because the world is perilously close to the precipice, any move toward midnight should be taken as an indication of extreme danger and an unmistakable warning,” Holz added.
Here’s a closer look at how the clock was created and how the time is determined.
🕛 What is the ‘Doomsday Clock’?
It’s a symbolic way of showing the public how close the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists believes the world is to a human-made apocalypse.
Midnight represents Earth’s total annihilation. If the clock moves closer to midnight, it suggests that humanity is nearing self-destruction. It is possible for the clock to move away from midnight, which means that humanity has taken steps within the past year to reduce the risks of the end of the world.
“There is hope. We certainly believe that the clock can be moved back, and there are many actions that can be taken,” Holz said as he responded to a reporter’s question. “Our concern is that those actions are not being taken.”
“The Doomsday Clock is a design that warns the public about how close we are to destroying our world with dangerous technologies of our own making,” the website says. “It is a metaphor, a reminder of the perils we must address if we are to survive on the planet.”
The Doomsday Clock, set at 89 seconds to midnight, is displayed before a news conference at the United States Institute of Peace, Tuesday, Jan. 28, in Washington. (Mark Schiefelbein/AP)
↩️ How did the Doomsday Clock come about?
The timepiece concept dates back to 1947, when nuclear weapons were the greatest danger to humanity, as the United States and Russia were headed toward an arms race.
Artist Martyl Langsdorf was commissioned to design a new cover for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists journal. She was married to Alexander Langsdorf, a nuclear physicist who worked on the Manhattan Project, which built the world’s first atomic bombs.
She listened to the scientists who worked on the nuclear bomb, and they stressed the importance of conveying a sense of urgency to the public about the consequences of the new technology. It was then that Langsdorf switched her design from the uranium symbol to a clock to convey there’s not much time to get it under control.
The artist first set the Doomsday Clock to seven minutes until midnight because “it looked good to my eye,” she said.
☢️ How is the time determined?
After the clock concept was established, Bulletin editor Eugene Rabinowitch decided whether or not the clock’s time should be adjusted. As a scientist and a leading voice in the international effort to reduce and eliminate nuclear weapons, he based his decisions on the clock’s time after consulting with other scientists and experts from all over the world.
After Rabinowitch died in 1973, the Bulletin’s governing board took over the responsibility. In 2008, a separate Science and Security Board (SASB) was established and is now entrusted with the task. The SASB is made up of a select group of globally recognized leaders who consult additional experts across a wide range of disciplines. The board weighs the danger of nuclear disaster, and in recent decades has considered threats of climate change and artificial intelligence.
The members weigh the following two questions every year in deciding where the clock should be: Is humanity safer or at greater risk this year than last year? Is humanity safer or at greater risk compared with the 78 years the clock has been set?
⚠️ What was the time set to in recent years?
In January 2023, the Doomsday Clock was set at 90 seconds to midnight, the closest to midnight it has ever been, in large part because of the nuclear threat posed by Russia’s war on Ukraine.
It remained at 90 seconds to midnight in 2024, citing the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and the war in Gaza, disasters exacerbated by climate change and the danger of artificial intelligence.
🕦 When was the clock furthest from midnight?
Leonard Rieser, chairman of the board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, moves the hand of the Doomsday Clock back to 17 minutes before midnight on Nov. 26, 1991. (Carl Wagner/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
In 1991, the Bulletin set the clock hand back to 17 minutes until midnight, gaining seven minutes after the Cold War was officially over. The U.S. and Russia signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), agreeing to greatly reduce the number of strategic nuclear weapons. Since first appearing in 1947, Martyl’s Doomsday Clock has been reset more than 20 times.