Scientists have issued a stark warning that humanity stands on the brink of destruction, as the Doomsday Clock ticks ominously at 85 seconds to midnight for 2026—marking the most dire assessment since the tradition began in 1947.
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a not-for-profit organization established by Albert Einstein and fellow scientists, highlighted in its annual report that global cooperation is regressing in critical areas such as nuclear weapons, climate change, and biotechnology, while artificial intelligence introduces new, formidable threats.
“The message from the Doomsday Clock is unequivocal: catastrophic risks are escalating, cooperation is diminishing, and time is running out,” asserted Alexandra Bell, the president and CEO of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
“Change is both essential and achievable, but the global community must urgently demand decisive action from their leaders,” Bell emphasized.
In a comprehensive statement detailing the rationale behind advancing the clock closer to midnight, the Bulletin expressed alarm over the increasingly aggressive, adversarial, and nationalistic behaviors of countries like Russia, China, and the United States.
It pointed out that “hard-won global understandings are eroding,” giving way to a “winner-takes-all great power competition.”
The assessment referenced significant conflicts in 2025, including Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine, clashes between India and Pakistan that erupted in May, and the military actions of the US and Israel against Iran in June.
Regarding the climate emergency, the Bulletin criticized national and international responses as “wholly insufficient to profoundly destructive.”
“None of the three most recent UN climate summits prioritized phasing out fossil fuels or monitoring carbon dioxide emissions,” it noted, while calling out former US President Donald Trump for effectively waging a war on renewable energy and undermining sensible climate policies.
Despite these challenges, the Bulletin acknowledged that renewable energy, particularly wind and solar, achieved record growth in both capacity and generation in 2024, with renewable and nuclear energy together surpassing 40 percent of global electricity generation for the first time.
The Doomsday Clock serves as a symbol of humanity’s proximity to extinction. Since its inception in 1947, the Bulletin has adjusted its assessments, ranging from a reassuring 17 minutes to midnight to this year’s alarming 85 seconds.
The lowest recorded risk occurred in 1991, coinciding with the end of the Cold War, when the United States and Russia began significant reductions in their nuclear arsenals.
Conversely, just seven years earlier, in 1984, the clock stood at three minutes to midnight, reflecting a period of near-complete cessation of dialogue between the Soviet Union and the US.
In recent years, the clock has consistently edged closer to midnight, as the Bulletin increasingly identifies the lack of action on climate change as a pressing threat alongside the specter of nuclear war and other global crises.
During the ceremony announcing the new assessment, Daniel Holz, a professor of physics, astronomy, and astrophysics at the University of Chicago and chair of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, remarked that the rise of nationalistic autocracies exacerbates a range of threats.
“Our most significant challenges demand international trust and cooperation; a world divided into ‘us versus them’ will render all of humanity more vulnerable,” Holz cautioned.
