It is 90 seconds to midnight.
The "100 seconds to midnight" setting remained unchanged in 2021 and 2022. On January 24, 2023, the Clock was moved to 90 seconds (1 minute, 30 seconds) before midnight, meaning that the Clock's current setting is the closest it has ever been to midnight since its inception in 1947.
The "Doomsday Clock," created by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists to illustrate how close humanity has come to the end of the world, moved its "time" in 2023 to 90 seconds to midnight, 10 seconds closer than it has been for the past three years. Midnight on this clock marks the theoretical point of annihilation.
The Bulletin has reset the minute hand on the Doomsday Clock 25 times since its debut in 1947, most recently in 2023 when we moved it from 100 seconds to midnight to 90 seconds to midnight. Every time it is reset, we're flooded with questions about the internationally recognized symbol.
What is the Doomsday Clock set at now? The Doomsday Clock is currently set at 90 seconds to midnight. It had been at 100 seconds to midnight since 2020, and didn't change in either 2021 or 2022.
But it may be helpful to remember, Wellerstein adds, that the Doomsday Clock is not a scientific instrument or even an institution. It's a metaphor and a communication tool.
“We are living in a time of unprecedented danger, and the Doomsday Clock time reflects that reality. Ninety seconds to midnight is the closest the clock has ever been set to midnight, and it's a decision our experts do not take lightly,” Bronson said.
Midnight marks the theoretical point of annihilation. Apocalyptic threats could arise from political tensions, weapons, technology, climate change or pandemic illness. The hands of the clock are moved closer to or further away from midnight based on the scientists' reading of existential threats at a particular time.
So she sketched a clock to suggest that we didn't have much time left to get atomic weapons under control. Graphic designer Michael Bierut reimagined the iconic image in 2007. Martyl set the original Clock at seven minutes to midnight because, she said, “it looked good to my eye.”
In response to the urgency she felt from the meetings, she designed a minimalist, but memorable clock—its hands set at seven minutes to midnight, in part because it “looked good to [her] eye.” Ever since, the Bulletin has used the clock to depict the existential threats facing humanity.
Over the past 76 years, the hands of the clock have moved both backward and forward, according to whether steps were taken to address potentially civilization-ending threats, including climate change and nuclear war. "This is the closest the Doomsday Clock has ever been to midnight," said University of Chicago Prof.
The truth is, there is actually a story that follows up on the events of Doomsday Clock. It's called Dark Nights: Death Metal, and it involves the villainous Batman Who Laughs using the powers of Doctor Manhattan to become a godlike figure.
The Doomsday Clock is set every year by the Bulletin's Science and Security Board in consultation with its Board of Sponsors, which includes 10 Nobel laureates. The Clock has become a universally recognized indicator of the world's vulnerability to global catastrophe caused by manmade technologies.
Scientists revealed on Tuesday that the "Doomsday Clock" has been moved up to 90 seconds before midnight -- the closest humanity has ever been to armageddon.
12:00AM is the start of the day, so midnight of the day before. How does the 12 hour clock time format work? The 12 hour clock runs as follows: 12:00AM, 1:00AM….
Though there is no global unanimity on the issue, most often midnight is considered the start of a new day and is associated with the hour 00:00. Even in locales with this technical resolution, however, vernacular references to midnight as the end of any given day may be common.
The Doomsday Clock is the most graphic depiction of human-made threats, and the act of moving the clock forward communicates a clear and urgent need for vigilance. For 2021 and 2022, the clock's hands were set at 100 seconds to midnight.
2 minutes to midnight. 1953. The Bulletin moved the clock the closest to midnight it had ever been—and the closest it would ever be in the 20th Century—after the U.S. and the Soviet Union detonated their first thermonuclear weapons. 2.5 minutes to midnight.
What is the “Doomsday Clock?” The “Doomsday Clock,” created in 1947, is an “international symbol of the world's vulnerability to catastrophe” as well as a countdown to when the “man-made threats to human existence” like nuclear weapons, the fossil fuel industry and technology, are likely to tip us over the edge.
At this point, you're probably wondering what would actually happen if the clock struck midnight. Though there's no need to take it literally, Bronson says there would be some sort of nuclear exchange or catastrophic climate change that would wipe out humanity.
1984: Three minutes from midnight
In 1984, the Bulletin warned that because of stalled communication between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, the world was a mere 180 seconds away from the proverbial end of days.
History of the Doomsday Clock
In 1991, the clock had its furthest time from catastrophe when it was set to 17 minutes to midnight as the Cold War cooled down.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – January 24, 2023 –The Doomsday Clock was set at 90 seconds to midnight, due largely but not exclusively to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the increased risk of nuclear escalation.
WASHINGTON (AP) — With Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the specter of nuclear weapon use, Earth crept its closest to Armageddon, a science-oriented advocacy group said, moving its famous “Doomsday Clock” up to just 90 seconds before midnight.
“90 seconds to midnight is the closest the clock has ever been set to midnight, and it's a decision our experts do not take lightly.”