The symbolic Doomsday Clock near apocalypse on Tuesday, set for 85 seconds to midnight by scientists who cite rising risks from nuclear weapons, climate change, artificial intelligence, and biotechnology amid eroding global cooperation.
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists advanced the clock from last year’s 89 seconds, marking the closest point to midnight since its inception nearly 80 years ago.
Midnight means the moment humanity makes the Earth uninhabitable.
“Humanity has not made enough progress on the existential risks that endanger us all,” said Alexandra Bell, the group’s president and CEO, according to CNN.
“The Doomsday Clock is a tool to communicate how close we are to destroying the world with technologies of our own making. The risks we face from nuclear weapons, climate change and disruptive technologies are all growing. Every second counts and we are running out of time. It is a hard truth, but this is our reality.”
Daniel Holz, chairman of the Bulletin’s science and security board and a professor of physics, astronomy and astrophysics at the University of Chicago, said nations have ignored previous warnings and become more aggressive, adversarial and nationalistic.
“Instead of heeding this warning, major countries have become even more aggressive, adversarial and nationalistic,” Holz said, CNN reported. “Conflicts have intensified in 2025 with multiple military operations involving nuclear-armed states. The last remaining treaty governing nuclear weapons stockpiles between the United States and Russia will soon expire on February 4. For the first time in more than half a century, there will be nothing to prevent a runaway nuclear arms race.”
He pointed to threats from the war between Russia and Ukraine, the conflict between May’s India and Pakistan, and questions about Iran’s nuclear capabilities after the US and Israeli attacks last summer.
On climate, Holz noted record atmospheric carbon dioxide and global sea levels, with intensifying droughts, fires, floods and storms expected to worsen.
“… [G]rave dangers persist in the life sciences, particularly in emerging fields such as the development of synthetic mirror life, despite repeated warnings from scientists around the world,” Holz added. “The international community has no coordinated plan, and the world remains unprepared for potentially devastating biological threats.”
The unchecked expansion of AI breeds misinformation and disinformation, hampering responses to other crises and exacerbating disasters, he said. “If the world breaks down into a zero-sum us-versus-them approach, it increases the likelihood that we will all lose,” added Holz, according to CBS News.
Maria Ressa, co-founder and CEO of the Philippine news outlet Rappler, emphasized the role of facts in the union.
“Without facts, you can’t have the truth. Without the truth, you can’t have trust,” Ressa said, CNN reported. “Without these three, we don’t have a shared reality. We can’t have journalism. We can’t have democracy. The radical collaboration that this moment calls for becomes impossible. Think of shared facts as the operating system of collective action.”
The clock, which was created in 1947 by Manhattan Project scientists to symbolize humanity’s potential self-destruction, initially focused on nuclear threats but expanded in 2007 to include climate risks. Time adjustments reflect consultations among experts, including Nobel laureates.
It reached 17 minutes past midnight in 1991, following the end of the Cold War and the signing of a US-Soviet arms treaty. The last years saw it at 100 seconds in 2020-2022, 90 seconds in 2023-2024, and 89 seconds last year due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and other factors.
The Bulletin said that reversing the trend requires bold international action and public commitment to combat man-made threats.
“Every time we’ve been able to turn back the clock, it’s because we’ve had scientists and experts working to find solutions and a public that’s been demanding action,” Bell said, per CBS.
“We at the Bulletin believe that because humans created these threats, we can reduce them,” Rachel Bronson, senior adviser and former president and CEO, told CNN. “But doing this is not easy, nor has it ever been. And it requires serious work and global commitment at all levels of society.”