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Less than 90 seconds until the end of the world, according to science

undefined undefined 1 février 2025 undefined 18h00

The Editor

Alice de l'autre côté du miroir © Walt Disney Pictures / Tim Burton Productions

The Doomsday Clock has just been updated on January 28th, showing a new time that certainly isn’t comforting… This metaphorical tool indicates the symbolic time separating us from a potential end of the world, particularly based on the climate crisis and nuclear risks.

Experts agree, we have never been this close to the end of the world. That's the conclusion of the teams responsible for adjusting the Doomsday Clock. This group of scientists, far from being some quirky mad scientists, actually includes no less than 13 Nobel laureates. And if, right after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the clock's hands gave us only 7 minutes to live, the reality has clearly only gotten worse since then.


A powerful, and a bit stressful tool

The Doomsday Clock is both a symbolic and preventive tool, created in 1947 by scientists from the NGO Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. This measure estimates the time that separates humanity from...of a possible end of the world. It's when the clock hands point to midnight that the most concerning global events are happening and that the risk of the end of the world is at its highest, if not inevitable.

The goal is to "warn the public about the imminent danger of destroying our planet due to hazardous technologies created by humans", shares the NGO's website. The clock is set by the scientists who are members of the NGO, who assess the potential factors for improvement or deterioration, such as nuclear, technological and climate threats that weigh on our planet.


Dozens of factors

This Tuesday, January 28, the Doomsday Clock was updated and it's now closer to midnight than ever, displaying 11:58 and 31 seconds. The last update was back on <.January 24, 2023, and the displayed time, 11:58 and 30 seconds, was already the closest time to midnight since the clock was created. Due to events of the time, such as the war in Ukraine and climate disasters, the clock had been adjusted by the NGO by no less than 10 seconds, setting a new record.

According to the NGO, this clock is a “metaphor, a reminder of the dangers we must face in order to survive on our planet ”. And this time, it’s factors like the reelection of Donald Trump in the United States, the Iranian statements about nuclear issues, the escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the development of artificial intelligences, and the melting of the ice cap that are behind this slight, yet concerning movement. Tick, tock...