Doomsday Clock Nears Midnight as Global Threats Intensify

(MENAFN) On Tuesday, the Doomsday Clock was advanced to just 85 seconds before midnight, representing the nearest humanity has come to a potential global disaster since the clock’s introduction in 1947.

The move reflects mounting concern among scientists that the world is not doing enough to contain rising existential dangers, a news agency reported.

The timepiece is overseen by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, which pointed to increasing nuclear risks, worsening climate conditions, and the swift emergence of disruptive technologies as the key factors influencing the latest adjustment.

"Humanity has not made sufficient progress on the existential risks that endanger us all," said Alexandra Bell, president and CEO of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

Daniel Holz, who leads the Bulletin’s science and security board and teaches physics at the University of Chicago, cautioned that environmental consequences are escalating across the globe. "Droughts, fires, floods and storms continue to intensify and become more erratic, and this will only get worse," Holz said.

The Doomsday Clock was originally established in the period following World War II, after the deployment of atomic weapons, with the purpose of alerting both the public and decision-makers to dangers threatening human existence.

Over the past several years, the clock’s hands have crept ever closer to midnight, as experts continue to warn that governments and political authorities have not taken adequate action to roll back the expanding risks facing the planet.

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