As you read this, humanity is merely a minute or two away from disaster. Ten minutes tops.
Today, leading experts are convening to set the Doomsday Clock, a stark symbol of scientific worries about humanity’s, well, doom.
But does this mean it’s worthwhile to grab your toilet roll and Google your nearest bunker?
What’s the Doomsday Clock?
The thought behind the clock is straightforward – the closer we’re to midnight, the earlier we’re to ‘destroying the world’.
Behind the clock is the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a nonprofit organisation.
Their experts in global security, nuclear tech, climate change and other fields seek the advice of with Nobel laureates to maneuver the hands backwards and forwards.
Often, they set it in mid-January every few years to reflect how the events for the reason that last time it was set have modified humanity’s fate.
When the clock was created in 1947, the world’s threats were the growing threat of nuclear weapons following World War II.
Some things, it seems, don’t change. Lately, fears of nuclear attacks, World War III and AI have pushed the clock’s hands forward.
In 2021, for instance, the board decided we’re 100 seconds away from annihilation.
They based this on world leaders’ responses to the coronavirus pandemic, the general public’s declining faith in democracy and science and climate change, amongst other bleak things.
What’s the Doomsday Clock at now?
Last 12 months, the clock stood at 89 seconds to midnight, the closest it has ever been.
In any case, 2024 had been a 12 months of giant challenges: the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza and latest leaders entering positions across the globe – including Donald Trump.
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How close have we come to the tip of the world?
Yr: Minute to midnight
2025: 1.29
2023: 1.5
2020: 1.67
2018: Two
2017: 2.5
2015: Three
2012: Five
2010: Six
2007: Five
2002: Seven
1998: Nine
1995: 14
1991: 17
1990: 10
1988: Six
1984: Three
1981: 4
1980: Seven
1974: Nine
1972: 12
1969: 10
1968: Seven
1963: 12
1960: Seven
1953: Two
1949: Three
1947: Seven
What happens when the Doomsday Clock hits midnight?
It’s not a celebratory Recent Yr’s Eve countdown – the tip of the world, just about.
Well, you wouldn’t look out your window to see the apocalypse. It’s more of a metaphor to say humankind has did not avert catastrophe.
Such disasters include, but are usually not limited to: a nuclear war, climate catastrophe or an AI-fuelled collapse of the world’s power grids.
What time is the Doomsday Clock announcement today?
It’s at 3pm today.
Metro can be covering today’s Doomsday Clock announcement, which can be live-streamed on the Bulletin’s website and its YouTube channel.
Get in contact with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
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