By Natalie O'Neill
January 27, 2021 | 12:05pm
The Doomsday Clock remains set at 100 seconds until "midnight."Eva Hambach/AFP via Getty Images
The symbolic Doomsday Clock — designed by scientists to measure how close humanity is to an apocalypse — remains set dangerously close to disaster at 100 seconds until “midnight,” it was revealed Wednesday.
The annual end-of-days prediction remains the closest the clock has ever ticked toward catastrophe, based on threats including the coronavirus, climate change and nuclear catastrophe, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists announced.
Marking “a historic wakeup call,” its hands have remained in the same place since January 2020, the first time it ever moved closer than two minutes to midnight.
“[This year] revealed just how unprepared and unwilling countries and the international system are to handle global emergencies properly,” the group said in a press release.
“We are now expressing how close the world is to catastrophe in seconds — not hours, or even minutes. It is the closest to Doomsday we have ever been in the history of the Doomsday Clock. We now face a true emergency — an absolutely unacceptable state of world affairs that has eliminated any margin for error or further delay,” added Rachel Bronson, president and CEO of the group.
In a virtual press conference, members of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists said nuclear calamity is still the number one threat.
“The most important thing is to make sure every one of your political reps know that nuclear weapons are a danger now,” the spokesman said.
The Doomsday Clock was launched during the Cold War in 1947, when the clock’s hands were set at seven minutes to midnight.
The symbolic Doomsday Clock — designed by scientists to measure how close humanity is to an apocalypse — remains set dangerously close to disaster at 100 seconds until “midnight,” it was revealed Wednesday.
The annual end-of-days prediction remains the closest the clock has ever ticked toward catastrophe, based on threats including the coronavirus, climate change and nuclear catastrophe, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists announced.
Marking “a historic wakeup call,” its hands have remained in the same place since January 2020, the first time it ever moved closer than two minutes to midnight.
“[This year] revealed just how unprepared and unwilling countries and the international system are to handle global emergencies properly,” the group said in a press release.
“We are now expressing how close the world is to catastrophe in seconds — not hours, or even minutes. It is the closest to Doomsday we have ever been in the history of the Doomsday Clock. We now face a true emergency — an absolutely unacceptable state of world affairs that has eliminated any margin for error or further delay,” added Rachel Bronson, president and CEO of the group.
In a virtual press conference, members of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists said nuclear calamity is still the number one threat.
“The most important thing is to make sure every one of your political reps know that nuclear weapons are a danger now,” the spokesman said.
The Doomsday Clock was launched during the Cold War in 1947, when the clock’s hands were set at seven minutes to midnight.
The dramatic visual metaphor has moved closer to the end of times in three of the last four years.
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