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THE Doomsday Clock has been pushed closer than ever to midnight in a stark warning that humanity is edging dangerously near to catastrophe.
Scientists today moved the symbolic timepiece forward to 85 seconds as fears over nuclear war and the rapid rise of artificial intelligence reach what experts describe as a critical tipping point.
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The update took place at 3pm UK time in Washington DC, delivered by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists.
Citing a worldwide “failure of leadership,” Alexandra Bell, president and CEO of the organisation, said: “The Doomsday Clock’s message cannot be clearer.
“Catastrophic risks are on the rise, cooperation is on the decline, and we are running out of time.
“Change is both necessary and possible, but the global community must demand swift action from their leaders.”
The Science and Security Board said the four-second shift reflects worsening global risks driven by nuclear brinkmanship, disruptive technologies such as artificial intelligence, and mounting biological security concerns.
The board called for urgent action to rein in nuclear arsenals, establish international rules on AI, and strengthen cooperation to counter emerging biological threats.
Daniel Holz, chair of the Science and Security Board, warned that growing global division is compounding the danger, saying: “The dangerous trends in nuclear risk, climate change, disruptive technologies like AI, and biosecurity are accompanied by another frightening development: the rise of nationalistic autocracies in countries around the world,
He added that a splintering world risks leaving “all of humanity more vulnerable.”
The board said major powers have grown increasingly aggressive and adversarial, allowing hard-won global agreements to unravel while existential threats intensify.
It warned that failure to reverse course would further increase the probability of catastrophe, as leaders adopt policies that “accelerate rather than mitigate” global risks.
Scientists stressed the clock is not a prediction, but a warning – and said decisive international cooperation could still pull humanity back from the brink.
The clock symbolises how close we have come to destroying ourselves with dangerous technologies of our own making.
In this grim calculation, midnight represents total annihilation.
The nearer the hands creep toward the fated hour, the closer mankind edges toward some form of devastating global disaster.
In recent years, the mounting risk of WW3 and the unchecked rise of AI have all deepened the sense of impending doom.
The Bulletin’s chair of science and security, Daniel Holtz, has previously warned that “advances in an array of disruptive technologies” were driving the terrifying shift.
“Any move towards midnight should be taken as an indication of extreme danger and an unmistakeable warning,” Holz said.
“Every second of delay in reversing course increases the probability of global disaster.”
Last year, scientists set the clock closer to midnight than ever before – a mere 89 seconds away, only to be topped today at four seconds less.
By contrast, the hands were set furthest away at the end of the Cold War in 1991.
The clock read 17 minutes to midnight as the US and the Soviet Union signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty – cutting each side’s nuclear weapons arsenal.
Since the 2025 announcement, however, a number of world-shattering fears have only intensified.
Mad Vlad has continued his war of terror in Ukraine, as the Kremlin boss attempts to beat President Zelensky and the Ukrainian people into submission.
Russian forces have increasingly targeted energy infrastructure, plunging millions into darkness and freezing conditions as winter tightens its grip.
Donald Trump has continued to play fast and loose with international law as the US captured Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro.
He has also threatened to fracture trans-Atlantic relations by insisting on claiming Greenland in the name of national security.
In the Middle East, Iran continues to murder demonstrators who oppose the regime.
Human rights organisations fear as many as 20,000 people may have been killed in a brutal display of repression by the Islamist Republic.
In Gaza, a ceasefire hangs in the balance as both sides continue to violate its terms.
Meanwhile, in the lingering shadow of the Covid-19 pandemic, global health authorities remain on red alert.
The fear of the next outbreak looms large.
Before today’s announcement, the Science and Security Board was locked in deliberations over where the clock’s hands should fall.
The board is made up of scientists and other experts with deep knowledge of nuclear risk and climate science.
What is the Doomsday Clock?
The Doomsday Clock operates as a wake-up call for the world about global threats such as nuclear war, dangerous technologies and mass health concerns.
Used as a metaphor to signal how close the human race is to self-destruction by its distance from midnight, it is reset around the same time in January each year by varying lengths.
In 1953 it was set to just two minutes before midnight after the US and Soviet Union began testing nuclear weapons.
Ever-increasing nuclear threats in 2018 again saw it set to two minutes, one minute and 40 seconds in 2020 and just 100 seconds in 2021 and 2022.
It’s smallest number – one minute and 30 seconds – came last January.
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists – creators of the clock – formed it in 1947 based on the nuclear threat.
It wasn’t until later that natural risks like climate change were considered as well.
Despite it’s concerning meaning – it is meant to serve as a warning and is not a real clock.
Even if it strikes midnight – all hell will not break loose.
But the scientists who created it and view nuclear war as our biggest threat intend it to be taken seriously as an indicator of how dangerous the world has become.
And in our current climate, amid a backdrop of exploding global conflict, it could well be set closer to midnight in 2024.
English (US) · 