Doomsday Clock

02/05/2025

The U.S. and Iran are restarting nuclear talks.

Experts say there’s a chance to avoid war—with a stronger, permanent deal that closes off paths to a bomb. https://bit.ly/3RNjdFx

A Princeton University expert suggests verification methods for a new Iran nuclear deal that would let Iran could have the low-enriched uranium and enrichment capacity needed for a peaceful nuclear program. The United States would get the means to assure that Iran could never even begin to produce t...

07/03/2025

Who decides what time is it on the Doomsday Clock?

The Bulletin's Science and Security Board (SASB) is a select group of experts with backgrounds in nuclear risk, climate change, disruptive technologies, and biosecurity.

In addition to setting the time on the Doomsday Clock, they serve as the editorial advisory board of the Bulletin, advise Bulletin staff, and fulfill multiple other key responsibilities.

Learn more about the SASB: https://bit.ly/3DpuiZI

The Science and Security Board (SASB) is comprised of a select group of globally recognized leaders with a specific focus on nuclear risk, climate change, and disruptive technologies. The SASB provides the Bulletin with objective external perspectives on trends and issues in these related fields and...

28/01/2025

The 2025 announcement is today at 10:00am EST / 1500 GMT.

Watch the livestream here on Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, or our website below.

It is 90 seconds to midnight.

07/10/2024

No one can hide from the truth, says meteorologist John Morales.

"Extreme weather events, including hurricanes, are becoming more extreme. I must communicate the growing threats from the climate crisis come hell or high water—pun intended."

Read more: https://bit.ly/47Wa2Ke

22/09/2024

Has Russia’s war in Ukraine changed your view of the role of nuclear weapons?

Former Los Alamos lab director Siegfried Hecker proposes questions for US presidential candidates on great power competition, proliferation, and the role of nuclear energy.

Former Los Alamos lab director Siegfried Hecker proposes a series of nine questions on great power competition, the global nuclear order, proliferation, and the role of nuclear energy that journalists and citizens should ask the 2024 presidential candidates.

16/09/2024

"This is the troubling truth of the demagogue-inspired insurrections we’ve seen in the United States, Brazil, and other countries in recent years: They’re not 'sudden death' moments but single acts in a much lengthier traveling circus of political vanities, blustering fun, social decay, and lust for revenge—set against a backdrop of hunger for power, wealth, and fame."

"How demagogues destroy democracy: a step-by-step global guide," by John Keane, Professor of Politics at the University of Sydney, Australia.

Keane writes on today's demagogues as the harbingers of a new, 21st-century form of despotism: a corrupted, "phantom democracy" in which periodic elections are held but the rich become super-rich and omnipotent—while most of the populace is gripped by feelings of powerlessness.

Part of our September magazine on elections and democracy, this article is available to all readers for a limited time.

Today's demagogues are the harbingers of a new, 21st-century form of despotism: a corrupted, "phantom democracy" in which periodic elections are held but the rich become super-rich and omnipotent—while most of the populace is gripped by feelings of powerlessness.

22/04/2024

Join the Bulletin for a look at the current landscape of the war in Ukraine. Military strategist Stephen Biddle and Ukraine expert Melinda Haring join national security reporter Julian Barnes in discussion exploring the military strategies of both Russia and Ukraine and what the next phase of the war could bring.

An update on the war in Ukraine
April 24, 2024 | 10 am Central

Register at: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_asqq0GvUTmeeGzmn5UnyxA #/registration

Photo credit: National Police of Ukraine, changes made, CC BY 4.0 DEED.

20/04/2024

At the Bulletin, we are working to reduce the most consequential threats to humanity's existence.

Our premium magazine features authoritative reporting on how threats such as nuclear risk, climate change, and disruptive technologies.

Your subscription helps ensure we continue to provide fact-based reporting on how these threats are unfolding and what we can be done to reduce them.

Subscribe today: https://bit.ly/3vMnvWs

19/04/2024

Discover the history of the Doomsday Clock from its creation in 1947 to its 2024 setting of 90 seconds—the closest it has ever been to striking metaphorical midnight.

Explore the Doomsday Clock timeline: https://bit.ly/3U69efl

18/04/2024

Our Doomsday Clock playlist features songs from Pink Floyd, Hozier, The Smashing Pumpkins, The Who, and more!

Listen now on Spotify or the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists website: https://bit.ly/4aZ92oP

The Doomsday Clock Playlist is a collection of songs that mention or demonstrate direct inspiration from the Bulletin‘s Doomsday Clock. You can also listen to most of the songs from the playlist on our Spotify account. Know a song we should add to the playlist? The Doomsday Clock continues to be a...

15/04/2024

People drawn to power are fundamentally corrupt, according to Frank Herbert the author of Dune.

Which is why Paul Atreides' character was modeled after US President John F. Kennedy, a man who Herbert described as “one of the most dangerous presidents this country has ever had.”

Herbert found Kennedy’s charisma particularly troublesome because his followers adopted a fanaticism around him rather than his ideas.

Much of Herbert’s distrust of government seemingly stemmed from the time before he wrote Dune when he served as an aide to Republican Sen. Guy Cordon of Oregon. That time working in Congress was a formative experience and it’s possible to read Dune as documenting Herbert’s disenchantment with US foreign policy.

While the film does not include all of the different elements in the books, it is focused on the power and corruptibility of leaders, the dangers of religious extremism, and how the thirst for natural resources is used to justify extreme acts of war and environmental degradation—all of which are very familiar to the current residents of Old Terra (Earth).

Read more: https://bit.ly/4azMzz0

12/04/2024

"Navigating research with pandemic risk warrants additional precautions. We must create, maintain, and continuously improve a safe, secure, and responsible work environment for researchers in the laboratory, the clinic, and the field. In so doing, and by starting from what unifies us rather than what divides us, there is a chance we can better manage the next pandemic and build public trust along the way."

"How to avoid human-made pandemics" by Filippa Lentzos and Jens H. Kuhn.

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ Independent Task Force on Research with Pandemic Risks agreed that research with pandemic risks should proceed only when the research community and relevant oversight bodies can demonstrate that the research would be conducted safely, securely, and responsibl...