THE Doomsday Clock is set to be revealed later today in a chilling admission of just how close humanity may be to the brink of apocalypse.
The update will take place at 3pm UK time in Washington DC, delivered by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists.
The clock symbolises how close we have come to destroying ourselves with dangerous technologies of our own making.
In this grim calculation, midnight represents total annihilation.
The nearer the hands creep toward the fated hour, the closer mankind edges toward some form of devastating global disaster.
In recent years, the mounting risk of WW3 and the unchecked rise of AI have all deepened the sense of impending doom.
The Bulletin’s chair of science and security, Daniel Holtz, has previously warned that “advances in an array of disruptive technologies” were driving the terrifying shift.
“Any move towards midnight should be taken as an indication of extreme danger and an unmistakeable warning,” Holz said.
“Every second of delay in reversing course increases the probability of global disaster.”
Last year, scientists set the clock closer to midnight than ever before – a mere 89 seconds away.
By contrast, the hands were set furthest away at the end of the Cold War in 1991.
The clock read 17 minutes to midnight as the US and the Soviet Union signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty – cutting each side’s nuclear weapons arsenal.
Since the 2025 announcement, however, a number of world-shattering fears have only intensified.
Mad Vlad has continued his war of terror in Ukraine, as the Kremlin boss attempts to beat President Zelensky and the Ukrainian people into submission.
Russian forces have increasingly targeted energy infrastructure, plunging millions into darkness and freezing conditions as winter tightens its grip.
Donald Trump has continued to play fast and loose with international law as the US captured Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro.
He has also threatened to fracture trans-Atlantic relations by insisting on claiming Greenland in the name of national security.
In the Middle East, Iran continues to murder demonstrators who oppose the regime.
Human rights organisations fear as many as 20,000 people may have been killed in a brutal display of repression by the Islamist Republic.
In Gaza, a ceasefire hangs in the balance as both sides continue to violate its terms.
Meanwhile, in the lingering shadow of the Covid-19 pandemic, global health authorities remain on red alert.
The fear of the next outbreak looms large.
Ahead of today’s announcement, the Science and Security Board has been locked in deliberations over where the clock’s hands should fall.
The board is made up of scientists and other experts with deep knowledge of nuclear risk and climate science.
Their decision, when revealed, will offer a sobering snapshot of the world’s condition.
What is the Doomsday Clock?
The Doomsday Clock operates as a wake-up call for the world about global threats such as nuclear war, dangerous technologies and mass health concerns.
Used as a metaphor to signal how close the human race is to self-destruction by its distance from midnight, it is reset around the same time in January each year by varying lengths.
In 1953 it was set to just two minutes before midnight after the US and Soviet Union began testing nuclear weapons.
Ever-increasing nuclear threats in 2018 again saw it set to two minutes, one minute and 40 seconds in 2020 and just 100 seconds in 2021 and 2022.
It’s smallest number – one minute and 30 seconds – came last January.
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists – creators of the clock – formed it in 1947 based on the nuclear threat.
It wasn’t until later that natural risks like climate change were considered as well.
Despite it’s concerning meaning – it is meant to serve as a warning and is not a real clock.
Even if it strikes midnight – all hell will not break loose.
But the scientists who created it and view nuclear war as our biggest threat intend it to be taken seriously as an indicator of how dangerous the world has become.
And in our current climate, amid a backdrop of exploding global conflict, it could well be set closer to midnight in 2024.
