«85 seconds until midnight»: this is the time that the hands of the Doomsday Clock are marking 2026, but what does it mean? The Doomsday Clock it is a symbol, a reminder, a metaphor that reminds the public how close we are to destroying our world with technologies of our own invention. This is not a certainty or a prediction about the future.
The clock is updated every year since Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ Science and Security Board (SASB) in consultation with its Board of Sponsors, which includes eight Nobel Prize winners. This year’s timetable has been ported forward 4 seconds compared to 2025when he scored 89 seconds: behind this rapid acceleration there is not only thegeopolitical instability of recent years, but also other factors that could pose a threat to human existence. These include rising nuclear risk, the climate emergency and new unregulated technologies such as artificial intelligence and biotechnology.
However, we need to do aimportant clarification: the objective of this initiative it is not spreading alarmismas has been done by the global media in the last few hours. As highlighted by the SASB itself, the watch was conceived as a tool for spur humanity to action and make it clear that, although the seconds are decreasing, there is still time to act.
How the Doomsday Clock works
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists was founded in 1945 by Albert Einstein, J. Robert Oppenheimer and by the scientists at the University of Chicago who helped develop the first atomic weapons as part of the Manhattan Project. Two years later, in 1947the Bulletin created theDoomsday Clock to evaluate the potential threats caused by man to the planet.
The positioning of the hands is based on the study of previous events and current trends. The Science and Safety Committee evaluates both quantitative metrics (numbers, statistics on the number and types of nuclear weapons in the world, the atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases or the rate of sea level rise) both qualitative factorssuch as the effectiveness and timeliness of political and social responses. Through this approach, which combines empirical data and geopolitical analysis, the Bulletin estimates the potential consequences to existing threats.
First set by artist Martyl Langsdorf on 7 minutesthe update annual on January 27 moved the hands to 85 seconds from midnight compared to 89 last year. The furthest point was in 1991at the end of the Cold War: 17 minutes.
These numbers are not “hourly” but communicate an urgency to public opinion and world leaders. The closer we are to midnight, which symbolizes the Apocalypse, the less time there is to act and change things. Although an abstract idea, there is a physical clock located in the offices of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists at the Keller Center, within the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago.
What would ideally happen if the clock reached midnight? The hands are moved manually and midnight would symbolize the “global catastrophe” caused by man. However, this is not a prediction of a specific event but one metaphor of a point of no return.
Because the hands of the Doomsday Clock have been moved to 85 seconds
The issues that led the Board to move the clock closer tohypothetical end concern:
- The nuclear weapons: Jon B. Wolfsthaldirector of global risk at the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) and SASB member of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, said as more and more states rely on nuclear weapons, several states openly talk about using them not only for deterrence, but also coercion. Furthermore, he pointed out that hundreds of billions are being spent to modernize and expand nuclear arsenals around the world, and more and more non-nuclear states are considering whether to acquire their own nuclear weapons or hedge their nuclear bets.
- THE’artificial intelligence: Experts rated the expansion of AI use without risks being identified and mitigated as concerning
- The climate change: With an eye to the future and the steps to be taken, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of fossil fuels, the use of renewable energy on a large scale and for the creation of markets, and on relying on the science that monitors emissions reduction and mitigation efforts.
- The biological threats: For the SASB, this year has been characterized by reduced response capacity to biological events, further development and research of biological weapons, poorly controlled synthetic biology activities, and increasing convergence between artificial intelligence and biology.
