‘Doomsday Clock’ moves closest ever to midnight

WASHINGTON: Top scientists and security experts moved the “Doomsday Clock” forward on Tuesday to just 90 seconds to midnight — signaling an increased risk to humanity’s survival from the nuclear shadow over the Ukraine conflict and the growing climate crisis. The new timing of the clock set by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is closer to midnight than ever before.

The hands of the clock, which the Bulletin describes as a “metaphor for how close humanity is to self-annihilation,” had been at 100 seconds to midnight since January 2020 — the closest to midnight it had been in its history.

A decision to reset the hands of the symbolic timepiece is taken each year by the Bulletin’s science and security board and its board of sponsors, which includes 10 Nobel laureates. In a statement, the Bulletin said it was advancing the hands of the clock by 10 seconds this year “due largely but not exclusively to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the increased risk of nuclear escalation.”