Verified source brief
‘The odds are not in our favour’: who sets the Doomsday Clock – and what can they tell us about the future of humanity?
With the war on Iran, Ukraine, AI and climate breakdown increasing the likelihood of a nuclear war, the clock stands closer to midnight than ever before. So who decides how many seconds we have left – and can we buy ourselves more time? The Earth is getting hotter. Conflicts are raging, in the Middle East and Ukraine, each increasing the chance of nuclear war. AI is infiltrating almost every aspect of our lives, despite its unpredictability and tendency to hallucinate. Scientists, tinkering in labs, risk introducing new, deadly pathogens , more destructive than Covid. Our pandemic response preparedness has weakened . The Doomsday Clock – a large, quarter clock with no numbers, keeps ticking, counting down the seconds until the apocalypse. Tick. Tick. Tick. In January, we reached 85 seconds to midnight. Experts believe humanity has never stood so close to the brink. “What we have seen is
Source brief
With the war on Iran, Ukraine, AI and climate breakdown increasing the likelihood of a nuclear war, the clock stands closer to midnight than ever before. So who decides how many seconds we have left – and can we buy ourselves more time? The Earth is getting hotter. Conflicts are raging, in the Middle East and Ukraine, each increasing the chance of nuclear war. AI is infiltrating almost every aspect of our lives, despite its unpredictability and tendency to hallucinate. Scientists, tinkering in labs, risk introducing new, deadly pathogens , more destructive than Covid. Our pandemic response preparedness has weakened . The Doomsday Clock – a large, quarter clock with no numbers, keeps ticking, counting down the seconds until the apocalypse. Tick. Tick. Tick. In January, we reached 85 seconds to midnight. Experts believe humanity has never stood so close to the brink. “What we have seen is
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This is a source-linked brief from The Guardian. Read the original item at ‘The odds are not in our favour’: who sets the Doomsday Clock – and what can they tell us about the future of humanity?.
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- Published by source: 2026-05-09T05:00:49+00:00
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- ‘The odds are not in our favour’: who sets the Doomsday Clock – and what can they tell us about the future of humanity?The Guardian - 2026-05-09T05:00:49+00:00
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