The Doomsday Clock has been updated to just 89 seconds until a civilization-ending disaster

In context: The Doomsday Clock, created in 1947 by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a group co-founded by Albert Einstein, is a striking symbolic timekeeper. Midnight on the metaphorical clock represents a world-shattering cataclysm. The closer we get to midnight, the more dire the Bulletin judges the current existential threats from nuclear weapons, climate change, disruptive technologies like AI, and more.

On January 28, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists updated the Doomsday Clock from 90 to 89 seconds until "midnight," as world-ending threats continue escalating at a terrifying pace. Bulletin scientists listed several conditions that influenced the clock update.

Experts see the war in Ukraine, which still rages into its third year, as posing real risks of going nuclear through accident or madness. Nuclear powers like the US, China, and Russia continue pouring staggering resources into modernizing and building up their doomsday arsenals rather than negotiating limitations. Greenhouse ...