The Doomsday Clock is now just 89 seconds from midnight. Here's why

USA Today

28-01-2025

The Doomsday Clock is now just 89 seconds from midnight. Here's why
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What Is The 'Doomsday Clock' & How Does It Actually Work?
The Doomsday Clock is a symbolic timepiece showing how close the world is to ending. Atomic scientists reset the Doomsday Clock every January. Midnight marks the theoretical point of annihilation. Apocalyptic threats could arise from political tensions, weapons, technology, climate change or pandemic illness. The clock's hands are moved closer to or further away from midnight based on the scientists' reading of existential threats. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists updates the time annually based on information about catastrophic risks to the planet and humanity. At 90 seconds to midnight, the Doomsday Clock is the closest it has ever been to midnight. The clock was first set at 90 seconds to midnight in 2023 to reflect the danger posed by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
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Is it too early on a Tuesday to have an existential crisis? The Doomsday Clock doesn't believe so.
On Tuesday morning, the Doomsday Clock was set at 89 seconds to midnight, which is the closest it has ever been to midnight in the 78 years since it started running.
So what has set off the historic change? Essentially everything, according to the 2025 Doomsday Clock statement.
'In 2024, humanity edged ever closer to catastrophe. Trends that have deeply concerned the Science and Security Board continued, and despite unmistakable signs of danger, national leaders and their societies have failed to do what is needed to change course," the statement read. "Consequently, we now move the Doomsday Clock from 90 seconds to 89 seconds to midnight − the closest it has ever been to catastrophe. Our fervent hope is that leaders will recognize the world's existential predicament and take bold action to reduce the threats posed by nuclear weapons, climate change, and the potential misuse of biological science and a variety of emerging technologies."
Juan Manuel Santos, chair of The Elders, former President of Colombia, and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, who participated in the 2025 Doomsday Clock announcement, said: 'The Doomsday Clock is moving at a moment of profound global instability and geopolitical tension. As the hands of the clock get ever closer to midnight, we make an impassioned plea to all leaders: now is the time to act together! The existential threats we face can only be addressed through bold leadership and partnership on a global scale. Cada segundo cuenta. Every second counts.'
Here's a look at what the Doomsday Clock actually tracks and why we're closer now than ever before.
What is the Doomsday Clock?
The Doomsday Clock is pretty much what the name implies: A morbid creation meant to warn the public about how close we are to destroying our world with the technology we create.
It was created in 1947, during a time when nuclear weapons presented the greatest threat to humanity, as the United States and the Soviet Union started a nuclear arms race.
While assured mutual destruction via nuclear weapons is never not a threat, the Doomsday Clock has since expanded to consider a multitude of other factors such as climate change, biological threats and disruptive technologies like artificial intelligence.
What happens when the Doomsday clock hits midnight?
When the Doomsday Clock strikes midnight, that's it. The lights are out, and no one is coming to turn them back on.
'When the clock is at midnight, that means there's been some sort of nuclear exchange or catastrophic climate change that's wiped out humanity,' Bulletin president and CEO Rachel Bronson told CNN.
When was the Doomsday Clock the closest to midnight?
Today. Right now, in fact. The Science and Security Board set the time to 89 seconds because 'despite unmistakable signs of danger, national leaders and their societies failed to do what is needed to change course.'
When was the Doomsday Clock farthest from midnight?
In 1991, with the end of the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, the first treaty to provide for deep cuts to the two countries' strategic nuclear weapons arsenals, prompting the Bulletin to set the clock hand to 17 minutes to midnight.
Where does the nuclear threat stand?
The original Doomsday Clock was all about the threat of nuclear annihilation. Little more than a week into President Donald Trump's second term in office, the nuclear outlook is still unclear.
The world's last remaining nuclear arms control pact – New START, which limits U.S. and Russian nuclear warhead deployments (and not stockpile size) – expires in early 2026.
The U.S. commander-in-chief told World Economic Forum attendees Thursday that he would 'like to see denuclearization' and said he previously discussed the idea with the leadership of Russia and China.
Yet the president's appointees, including new Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, are less bullish about future arms reductions. The Pentagon head, in written responses to lawmakers' policy questions before his confirmation, said the country should only 'pursue arms control when it is in its interest to do so … Both China and Russian have rebuffed US efforts to engage in meaningful risk reduction talks since 2020.'
North Korea's nuclear arsenal, a topic of significant concern in the U.S. and abroad during Trump's first administration, poses a security and foreign relations challenge as well.
What can we do about the challenges the Doomsday Clock is warning us about?
So far, it seems that shrugging and saying, 'well, what can you do?' is the most common way to tackle many of these problems in our everyday lives. It's a fair enough stance to take − what can you do in the face of the threat of nuclear annihilation?
As with anything, baby steps.
The first thing anyone can do is arm themselves with knowledge about the problems and come to understand some of the solutions that have been put forth on the table. Raising the civic IQ around important topics like these helps us inch closer to finding real, tangible solutions.
The second part of that is spreading what you know to the people you know.
Lastly, whether it's through letters, emails, town halls or carrier pigeons, everyone has the power to write to their government representatives about these issues.
Contributors: Elizabeth Weise and Davis Winkie -- USA TODAY