Doomsday Clock ticks down to 85 seconds to midnight in 2026—closest ever to apocalypse

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists announced on Jan. 27 that the hands of the Doomsday Clock moved forward four seconds and now sits at 85 seconds to midnight—the closest the symbolic clock has ever been to apocalypse.

Its statement cited expiring nuclear treaties, climate change,and AI and disinformation as among the major threats which have worsened in the past year.

Every year since 1947, the Bulletin—a group of scientists, policymakers and experts—sets the clock as a representation of how much time humanity has left to avert global catastrophe. The hands of the clock move backward or forward according to whether steps were taken to address threats that could end human civilization on Earth, including climate change and nuclear war. 

The clock also changed last year, when the Bulletin set the hands of the clock at less than a minute and a half to midnight—closer than it had ever been before, including during the Cold War. 

This year, the organization determined that the world has moved closer to apocalypse rather than further. Accordingly, they changed the hands of the clock, which is located at the Bulletin offices in the Keller Center, home to the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy.

In their decision, the Bulletin cited in particular the rapidly approaching Feb. 5 expiration of the New START Treaty, an agreement between the United States and Russia that limits the number of nuclear weapons. 

“For the first time in over half a century, there will be nothing preventing a runaway nuclear arms race,” said Daniel Holz, professor of astronomy and astrophysics and physics at the University of Chicago and chair of the Science and Security Board that sets the clock hands.

The Bulletin also cited military conflicts between nuclear-armed states; lack of progress on climate change; the rise of nationalistic autocracies; and the uncontrolled spread of generative AI as contributing to mis- and dis-information.

“We are living through an information armageddon,” said Bulletin guest speaker Maria Ressa, a journalist and professor of professional practice at Columbia University and 2021 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. “Without facts you can’t have truth, and without truth you can’t have trust.”

A call to action from the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 

The Bulletin was created by concerned Manhattan Project scientists, many based at UChicago, shortly after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Artist and Bulletin member Martyl Langsdorf created the iconic Doomsday Clock to signal how close humanity was to self-destruction.

Today, multiple UChicago faculty members sit on the Bulletin's board, including Holz and Prof. Robert Rosner, who sits on the Board of Sponsors. 

“We are running out of time. It is a hard truth that this is our reality.”

—Alexandra Bell, president and CEO of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists

Last summer, the university hosted an assembly including 13 Nobel Laureates and more than 40 nuclear experts, which called for renewed efforts at diplomacy to address major problems.

The Bulletin has always emphasized that the clock is not intended to spread fear, but rather to spur action. The full statement lists a number of actions needed to make the world safer, and urges readers to press their governments.

“The Doomsday Clock is really a metaphor for the amount of danger that we’re in. But it’s also a call to action,” said Alexandra Bell, president and CEO of the Bulletin. “We have time left to fix the problems we ourselves have created.” 

Originally published by UChicago News