New nuclear doomsday clock to be revealed tomorrow

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists to announce what time it is on the Doomsday Clock

January 25, 2016 2:47pm
Marnie O’Neillnews.com.au

WE will find out how close we are to Armageddon when the world’s most revered scientists gather in Washington DC to announce what time it is on the Doomsday Clock.

The symbolic timekeeper of our impending destruction is currently set at three minutes to midnight — the closest we have ever been to that dreaded hour since the clock began ticking in 1947.

The clock is a universally recognised indicator of our vulnerability to catastrophe from nuclear weapons, emerging technologies and more recently, global warming. We ignore it at our peril.

On Wednesday morning (1.30pm Tuesday in America), the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists will reveal whether the minute hand will be adjusted, at a live press conference in Washington DC.

“Tensions between the United States and Russia that remain at levels reminiscent of the Cold War, the danger posed by climate change, and nuclear proliferation concerns, including the recent North Korean nuclear test, are the main factors influencing the decision about any adjustment that may be made to the Doomsday Clock,” a statement on the Bulletin’s website said.

“In January 2015, the Doomsday Clock’s minute hand advanced two minutes, moving from five to three minutes before midnight, the closest it has been to catastrophe since the early days of above-ground hydrogen bomb testing.”

Last year’s dramatic shift towards midnight prompted the group — which counts 16 Nobel Laureates among its members — to pen an open letter to the world’s leaders warning immediate action must be taken to prevent a tragedy of global proportions.

“In 2015, unchecked climate change, global nuclear weapons modernisations, and outsized nuclear weapons arsenals pose extraordinary and undeniable threats to the continued existence of humanity, and world leaders have failed to act with the speed or on the scale required to protect citizens from potential catastrophe,” it wrote.

“These failures of political leadership endanger every person on Earth.”

The recent peace deal between Iran and the United States and progress made at the Paris climate change summit will also be taken into account in the calculations but it’s hard to say how much of a mitigating effect these positive developments will have.