The time of the Doomsday Clock has been revealed for 2024.
At the annual event held by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists - a nonprofit organization that tracks man-made threats to humanity - it was announced that the clock will remain at 90 seconds to midnight.
This time is unchanged from 2023.
Speaking about the reasoning behind the decision, Rachel Bronson, president and CEO of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, said: "Earth experienced its hottest year on record" and the Israel-Palestine conflict provided a further illustration of the "horrors of modern war".
Famed TV personality and educator Bill Nye "The Science Guy was on hand at the event to announce the new time.
In 2023, the Doomsday Clock was set to 90 seconds before midnight - "largely (though not exclusively) because of the mounting dangers of the war in Ukraine", as well as the lack of haste from world leaders surrounding climate change.
According to the Doomsday Clock, the best year for humanity since its inception was 1991 - when it stood at 17 minutes to midnight.
The Doomsday Clock has been moved 25 times since its inception.
What is the Doomsday Clock?The Doomsday Clock provides an easily understandable gauge of the world's proximity to global calamity.
It operates on a simple principle: the closer the minute hand is to midnight, the more imminent the threat to humanity becomes.
The metaphorical clock was first introduced in 1947, when it was set at 7 minutes to midnight - and it was first moved two years later to 6 minutes to midnight.
Each year, the clock's setting is determined by the Bulletin's Science and Security Board, in consultation with its Board of Sponsors, which includes ten Nobel laureates. Factors such as national security, climate change, and nuclear peril are meticulously considered when positioning the clock's hands.
Recent years have witnessed the clock's hands inching ever closer to the dreaded midnight mark. In 2023, the clock was advanced by a further ten seconds. This decision was driven by escalating tensions stemming from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, amid concerns over the potential use of nuclear weapons in the conflict.
The Doomsday Clock's unsettling trend has seen it move closer to midnight in three of the past four years leading up to 2022. While it remained unchanged in 2019, its minute hand was nudged forward by 30 seconds in 2018, bringing it perilously close to the two-minute mark before midnight.
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists President and CEO, Rachel Bronson, underscores the gravity of the situation, emphasizing that if the clock ever strikes midnight, it signifies a catastrophic event such as a nuclear exchange or cataclysmic climate change that could wipe out humanity.
Basically, although nothing will actually happen, it marks the moment in time where many of the world's greatest minds believe humanity is beyond saving.
Bronson points out a chilling reality; we may never know when this catastrophic moment occurs, as the Doomsday Clock primarily serves as a pre-emptive device to avert disaster before it becomes an irrevocable reality.
"When the clock is at midnight, that means there's been some sort of nuclear exchange or catastrophic climate change that's wiped out humanity," Bronson cautions. "We never really want to get there, and we won't know it when we do."
