The annual revealing of the time on the Doomsday Clock was announced January 24th. It has seemed to have left people more shocked than any Doomsday Clock reveal ever. For the first time in history, the Doomsday Clock has reached 90 seconds to midnight, which is the closest it has ever been to midnight in its entire existence. 

What Is the Doomsday Clock?

The Doomsday Clock is a symbol of how close humans are from destroying the World with their own technologies. It was made by atomic scientists to keep people aware and inspire change before it’s too late. Scientists will choose what time the Doomsday Clock is at by taking into account all events happening in the world and how much of a threat they are to mankind. Things like nuclear bombs, climate change, and much more, are looked at when deciding. The time when the Doomsday Clock hits midnight is the theoretical time in which the world ends. The closer the minute hand is to midnight, the higher the chance the world will end in that year. However, the minute hand can move farther away from midnight depending on what happened during the previous year. The clock is not restricted to only counting down, it moves accordingly. 

Why Is the Doomsday Clock 90 Seconds to Midnight?

As of now, the scientists who run the Doomsday Clock are very concerned about the current situation of our world. The Ukraine War is still raging, as well as the increasing tension between N.A.T.O and Russia is still persisting. And the increasing tension between the U.S and China from their spy balloon incident has the whole country on edge. Those are leading reasons that it has changed from 100 to 90 seconds to midnight. Some factors still contributing to the Doomsday Clock that have been around for a long time are climate change slowly becoming more and more of a problem, emerging diseases, and the growing stock of nuclear weapons. Putin’s numerous threats to attack N.A.T.O and threats of use of nuclear weapons on Ukraine are the biggest reasons that the clock has shifted closer to midnight. 

Can We Push Back the Time of The Doomsday Clock Again? Or Is It Too Late?

In terms of climate change…Yes, it is still possible to eliminate that factor from the Doomsday Clock. Some scientists believe that the Earth can possibly be saved from climate change by 2023. However, in terms of weapons causing mass destruction, it remains unclear if anything can be done. Organizations in the past have reduced the number of nuclear bombs worldwide, but that only lasted for a short period of time. The U.N. and other organizations are trying to eliminate the use of nuclear weapons, but so far, nothing has really improved. Thee is hope of eliminating nuclear weapons, but there is no way to know for sure right now. With our current situation, all we can do is hope tensions die down and things start to settle.