The Doomsday Clock has remained at 100 seconds to midnight for a third year in a row, as scientists claim the world is “no safer” than it was this time last year.
Maintaining last year’s setting means the clock’s keepers believe the threat of global apocalypse has not cooled off in the past 12 months.
Rachel Bronson, president and chief executive of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, said: “This year, in our statement, the science and security board highlights several bright spots and many disturbing trends. The board describes a mixed-threat environment, one with positive developments counteracted by accelerating negative ones.
“Today, the members of the science and security board deem the world to be no safer than it was last year at this time, and therefore have decided to set the Doomsday Clock at 100 seconds to midnight. The Doomsday Clock continues to hover dangerously, reminding us how much work is needed to ensure a safer and healthier planet. We must continue to push the hands of the clock away from midnight.”
The clock's original setting in 1947 was seven minutes to midnight. It has been set backward and forward 24 times since, the farthest from midnight being 17 minutes in 1991, and the nearest being 100 seconds in 2020, 2021 and now 2022.
Since 2010, the clock has been moved forward over four minutes.
