New Delhi, Jan 27: The world is closer to global catastrophe than ever before, according to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, which has moved its symbolic Doomsday Clock to 85 seconds to midnight, the closest setting in its nearly eight-decade history. Last year, the clock stood at 89 seconds to midnight. At the time, scientists warned that humanity was already dangerously close to disaster and that failure to act would raise the risk of irreversible damage. A year on, those warnings, they say, have gone largely unheeded.
The Doomsday Clock is not a prediction of the future, nor does it count real time. Instead, it is a powerful symbol used by scientists to show how close humanity is to self-destruction through threats largely of its own making. “Midnight” represents a global catastrophe, such as nuclear war or environmental collapse, while every second closer signals rising danger.
According to the Bulletin, relations among major powers including Russia, China and the United States have worsened, marked by growing nationalism, military posturing, and distrust. Long-standing international agreements and shared rules that once helped reduce global risks are weakening or breaking down.
This erosion of cooperation, scientists warn, is making it harder to manage some of the most serious threats facing the planet. These include the risk of nuclear conflict, accelerating climate change, the misuse of biotechnology, and the rapid, largely unregulated development of artificial intelligence.
The Doomsday Clock was first introduced in 1947 by scientists who had worked on the atomic bomb and were alarmed by its destructive potential. While it initially focused on nuclear dangers, the clock has evolved over the decades to reflect new and emerging risks to humanity’s survival.
By moving the clock to 85 seconds to midnight, the Bulletin’s Science and Security Board says global leaders have failed to act with urgency, often choosing policies and rhetoric that increase tensions rather than reduce them. The message, scientists stress, is a warning, not of inevitable doom, but of how little margin for error the world now has.
