‘Doomsday Clock’ is the closest ever to midnight

The Doomsday Clock is a symbol of how close humanity is to global catastrophe, and on January 25th 2023 the clock was set to 90 seconds to midnight. This is the closest it has ever been to midnight, indicating that the world is in an unprecedentedly dangerous position.

The Doomsday Clock was created by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists in 1947 as a way to measure the potential for global destruction from nuclear weapons and other technologies. It has since been used as a metaphor for how close humanity is to destroying itself, with midnight being symbolic of total annihilation.

The latest resetting of the Doomsday Clock was due to a variety of factors, including the war in Ukraine, climate change, and nuclear threats from countries like North Korea. The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists noted that these threats are compounded by a lack of political will and international cooperation needed to address them.