Doomsday Clock Minute Handing Moving Closer To Midnight On Thursday, Scientists Predict

The Doomsday Clock is ticking ever more loudly, according to a group of atomic scientists. Manhattan Project scientists created the symbolic Doomsday Clock in 1947 to illustrate how close the world is edging to a global catastrophe.

Doomsday Clock scientists monitor threats such as nuclear disasters and general global unrest, which could spark a worldwide domino effect on the economy, health, and basically, the end of the world as we know it – TEOTWAWKI. Midnight represents a doomsday event, or when threats to humanity will come to a head and cause a global collapse.

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (BAS) is hosting a live international media conference on Thursday to “make a major announcement.” The scientists are expected to reveal a recent decision by the governing board to move the Doomsday Clock’s minute hand a bit closer to midnight.

The last time the Doomsday Clock minute hand was moved was in January 2012, when the hand moved forward from six minutes until midnight to five. The doomsday scenarios expected to be discussed during the 11 a.m. Eastern Time Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists press conferences include terrorism, nuclear modernization, and climate change. Although many discount the dangers that climate change allegedly presents, the topic is now reportedly a major consideration for the group which controls the arms of the Doomsday Clock.

The University of Chicago founded the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists in 1945. The university scientist also helped developed the first atomic weapons in the Manhattan Project. The Doomsday Clock was established after their atomic bombs were dropped upon Nagasaki and Hiroshima to help put an end to World War II.

Members of the BAS include 18 Nobel Laureates. The decision to move the minute hand on the Doomsday Clock is made by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Board of Directors in conjunction with its Board of Sponsors.

In 2012, the BAS cited the reasons for moving the minute hand on the Doomsday Clock by referencing the difficulty in harnessing nuclear power, potential for nuclear weapons use in the Middle East, and inability to remove nuclear weapons from the world. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists also stated that climate change was a factor in the minute arm movement.

The Doomsday Clock minute hand has been moved 18 times since the global collapse time piece was created in 1947. Each inching up of the minute hand represents the chances of survival in the face of pending threats, as determined by the scientists of the BAS.

Should climate change be a factor in the BAS decision to move the minute arm closer to midnight? What do you think about the Doomsday Clock inching ever closer to midnight?