“Doomsday Clock” moves the closest to midnight in 76 years in light of Russia’s invasion

We are closer than ever to the end of the world, with 90 seconds left to the total destruction of mankind. Sounds like the latest box office hit? Unfortunately, this is reality.

Nuclear scientists have moved the “Doomsday Clock” closer to midnight than ever before, warning that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has intensified threats of nuclear war, disease, and climate volatility, leaving humanity at greater risk of annihilation.

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is a nonprofit organization headquartered in Chicago. The bulletin has been updating the clock’s time every year since 1947 based on research on global and human catastrophe threats. Its board of scientists, nuclear technology specialists, and climate scientists, consisting of 13 Nobel laureates, deliberates on current world events and determines where to set the hands of the clock annually. On this clock, the theoretical time of destruction is midnight.

Politics, weaponry, technology, climate change, and pandemics are some of the apocalyptic threats reflected by the clock.

The clock, according to The Bulletin, “is not a forecasting tool” and cannot forecast the future. The Bulletin explained that the clock is a representation of the dangers to humanity and each second does not indicate how many years or decades remain before the end of the world.

Read more here: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/24/us/doomsday-clock-midnight.html