The Doomsday Clock Hasn't Been This Close To Midnight Since It Was Introduced

The Doomsday clock has moved closer to midnight, jumping from 89 seconds to midnight in 2025 to 85 seconds this year (2026). 

“Midnight” on the Doomsday clock symbolises global catastrophe. 

This is the closest the clock has been to midnight since 1947, when the clock was first introduced. 

Why has the Doomsday clock time changed? 

According to members of The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, who decide the time on the clock, it’s down to a number of factors. 

“The risks we face from nuclear weapons, climate change, and disruptive technologies are all growing,” Alexandra Bell, the president and CEO of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, said. 

“Every second counts, and we are running out of time”. 

Other threats mentioned included risks of nuclear war and the unmanaged adoption of AI, as well as the climate crisis. 

Daniel Holz, chair of the group’s science and security board, added that global relations and international trust is being eroded. 

“Major countries became even more aggressive, adversarial, and nationalistic,” he said.

This matters, he said, because “if the world splinters into an us-versus-them, zero-sum approach, it increases the likelihood that we all lose”. 

The group also named “multiple biological security concerns” as a factor. 

Then, there’s the “information Armageddon”

2021 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Maria Ressa, warned of misinformation too. 

“Without facts, there is no truth. Without truth, there is no trust. And without these, the radical collaboration this moment demands is impossible. We are living through an information Armageddon ― the crisis beneath all crises ― driven by extractive and predatory technology that spreads lies faster than facts and profits from our division,” she said.

“We cannot solve problems we cannot agree exist.” 

Why was the Doomsday clock invented? 

The clock was created in 1947 to share how close scientists think we are to catastrophe.

It began because experts were worried that politicians and the public weren’t very aware of risks like nuclear warfare. 

The Doomsday Clock’s time is set by scientists from the group’s Science and Security Board. 

The furthest it’s been from midnight is 17 minutes, when the Cold War ended. 

Now, with threats like the climate crisis, the time is measured in seconds. 

The time can, of course, go further from midnight as well as closer to it. This has happened in the past, as scientists deemed global decisions and progress helpful and conducive to a better future. 

Since 2010 (six minutes to midnight, from 2009′s five), however, the clock has only ticked forward.

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