'Existential catastrophe'Īccording to the Clock, the world has remained equally vulnerable to the threats posed by war, climate change and pandemics for the third year in a row.īulletin of the Atomic Scientists president Rachel Bronson urged world leaders to do a "far better job of countering disinformation, heeding science and cooperating" in order "to avoid an existential catastrophe, one that would dwarf anything it has yet seen. The Doomsday Clock is set by the Bulletin's Science and Security Board in consultation with its Board of Sponsors, which includes 11 Nobel laureates. In 1991, amid the 'end of history' euphoria and optimism as the Soviet Union collapsed, the clock was put back to 17 minutes to midnight, but it has been ticking forward since Image: Chicago Tribune/picture alliance Initially its main focus was the prospect of a world-ending nuclear conflagration in the Cold War, but the group has since broadened its scope to include other threats to humanity and the planet, such as climate change. Two years later, the group created the Doomsday Clock to symbolically tick towards midnight, the point of a hypothetical global catastrophe. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists was founded in 1945 by Albert Einstein and the University of Chicago. The group of scientists that set the Clock did welcome "last year's leadership change in the United States" suggesting it had "provided hope that what seemed like a global race toward catastrophe might be halted and even reversed." They consult with the Bulletin’s board of sponsors.The "Doomsday Clock" which represents the perils to human existence remains at 100 seconds to midnight this year, with advances like COVID-19 vaccines offset by rising misinformation and threats of conflict. The position of the clock’s hands are determined by the Bulletin’s science and security board, which is comprised of physicists and environmental scientists from all over the word. The Bulletin was founded in 1945 by scientists from the University of Chicago who helped develop the first atomic weapons, AP reports. “The clock ticks now at just three minutes to midnight because international leaders are failing to perform their most important duty - ensuring and preserving the health and vitality of human civilization,” states the Bulletin’s website. Last year the position was adjusted to its current time.
In 2012, the clock’s hands rested at five minutes to midnight, a position determined by the potential for nuclear weapons use and the need for safer nuclear reactor designs. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists announced that the minute hand on the metaphorical clock remained at three minutes-to-midnight. Even if emissions from carbon dioxide were to end immediately, extra gases that have already worked their way into the atmosphere would keep raising the sea level and change more of the Earth's characteristics for hundreds of years.
The current concentration of carbon dioxide is higher now than it has been at any other time during the last 650,000 years, according to the researcher's overview. (WATCH: NASA's New Division to Prevent Doomsday?)
“Unless we change the way we think, humanity remains in serious danger,” said the Bulletin’s board of sponsors chair Lawrence Krauss.Īccording to Krauss, the agreements made concerning climate change and nuclear weapons are good news, however, they are offset by nuclear threats and the uncertainty that the environment talks will lead to any actual action, the Associated Press reports.
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