The hands of the doomsday clock moved a second closer to midnight

The Doomsday Clock, which reflects the level of tension associated with the nuclear threat, has been revised by one second to show 89 seconds to "nuclear midnight. A Jan. 28 presentation of the updated clock was broadcast by the organization's journal, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

"The world has not made enough progress against the existential risks that threaten all of humanity. That's why we are moving the clocks forward," said Daniel Holtz, chairman of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists' Science and Security Board.

He emphasized that moving the hands forward is a signal and a warning because the world is already close to nuclear conflict. Thus, the clock is now showing a record close to midnight.

Earlier, on January 24, 2023, the clock set 90 seconds to midnight. A year later, on January 23, 2024, this position of the hands was not changed. At the same time, in 2022, the "Doomsday Clock" showed 100 seconds before the nuclear conflict.

On August 4, 2024, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov noted that the time on the "doomsday clock" does not mean that the process of nuclear escalation is irreversible, and the hands cannot be turned back. The deputy minister pointed out that what is happening in the world should nevertheless be taken seriously.

The organization "Bulletin of Atomic Scientists" was established in 1945. After the end of World War II, the publishers of an American magazine that published articles by Chicago atomic scientists suggested that the scientific community unite in the struggle to maintain global security.

A key moment in the organization's history was the creation of the "doomsday clock," initially set at seven minutes to midnight. In 1949, when the Soviet Union tested a nuclear bomb, the hands were moved to three minutes to the "annihilation of mankind."

The organization assessed the situation in the world as the most stable in 1991, when General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Mikhail Gorbachev and U.S. President George Bush Sr. concluded the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START-1). At that time the clock showed 23:43.