Doomsday Clock reveals Earth is closest it has ever been to apocalypse

The "Doomsday Clock", which symbolises threat of global apocalypse, is to remain at 100 seconds to midnight - the closest it has ever been.

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (BAS), who control the clock, decided to keep the minute hand at its most dangerous position since the concept began in 1947 due to ongoing worldwide disturbances.

With the threat of war between Russia and Ukraine, ongoing climate crisis and the coronavirus pandemic, the panel warned of a "mixed threat environment," and branded 2022 a "perilous moment" in our history.

They also added that the world was "no safer" than it was last year during a press conference in Washington DC, the Mirror reports.

Rachel Bronson, BAS president and chief executive, said the clock is "hovering dangerously" with work needed to turn back the clock hands.

She added: "Today, the members of the Science and Security Board find the world to be no safer than it was last year at this time and therefore has decided to set the Doomsday Clock once again at 100 seconds to midnight.”

The clock is designed to act as a symbolic measure of the “world’s vulnerability to catastrophe”.

Maintaining last year’s setting means the clock’s keepers believe the threat of global apocalypse has not cooled off in the past 12 months.

President Bronson added: "The Doomsday Clock continues to hover dangerously, reminding us how much work is needed to ensure a safer and healthier planet. We must continue to push the hands of the clock away from midnight.”

Its minute hand was originally set at seven minutes to midnight – the point of a hypothetical worldwide disaster.

In 2020, it was adjusted to 100 seconds to midnight, the closest we've ever come to total destruction - and it remained there last year.

Before that, it was set at the two-minute mark in 2018 due to concerns over fake news and information warfare.

It was previously set at the two-minute point in 1953 when the U.S. and Soviet Union both tested thermonuclear weapons.

The farthest it has ever been from midnight was 17 minutes at the end of the Cold War,

'For 75 years, the Doomsday Clock has acted as a metaphor for how close humanity is to self-annihilation,' reads the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists' website.

'Since 1947, it has also served as a call-to-action to reverse the hands, which have moved backwards before.'

The countdown was established in 1947 by scientists who were working on the Manhattan Project - which helped design and build the first atomic bomb.

It was intended to warn of the threat of nuclear armageddon, but now takes into account other emerging threats such as climate challenges and advances in biotechnology and artificial intelligence.

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