The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientist members, from left, Jon B. Wolfsthal, Asha M. George, Steve Fetter and Alexandra Bell, reveal the Doomsday Clock, set to 85 seconds to midnight, during a news conference at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace on January 23, 2026, in Washington.
| Photo Credit: AP The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has moved the hands of the Doomsday Clock to 85 seconds to midnight, the closest the world has ever been to global catastrophe in its estimation. The announcement, on January 27 in Washington DC, reflects a darkening security landscape marked by eroding nuclear norms, escalating conflicts in Europe and Asia, climate and biological risks, and a fracturing international order. The new setting moves the clock forward from its previous position of 89 seconds to midnight from a year ago. “Last year, we warned that the world was perilously close to catastrophe and that countries needed to change course towards international cooperation and actions on the most critical existential risks,” SSB Chair and University of Chicago professor Daniel Holz said. “Unfortunately, the opposite has happened. Rather than heed this warning, major countries became even more aggressive, adversarial, and nationalistic.”
Published: January 27, 2026 5:19 pm
Source: The Hindu — Read original