Doomsday Clock now at 85 seconds to midnight, least time ever — again!

I closed The Marsh Family sings 'Donald's Sewage Stream' with a program note and question: "Stay tuned for this year's unveiling of the Doomsday Clock. How many seconds to midnight are we now?" The answer is 85 seconds to midnight. Reuters has the video with the preview image, description, and soundbite, Atomic 'Doomsday Clock' ticks closer than ever to midnight.

Atomic scientists set their 'Doomsday Clock' closer than ever to midnight, citing aggressive behavior by nuclear powers Russia, China and the US, fraying nuclear arms control, conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East and AI worries among factors driving risks for global disaster.

Reuters forgot climate change among the "factors driving risks for global disaster." That written, I'm not surprised we're four seconds closer to doomsday. Donald "Hoover Harding Cleveland" Trump's raid and coup in Venezuela and threats to Greenland alone justify advancing the clock.

Now for the 2026 Doomsday Clock Announcement from the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists themselves.

Since 2012, the Doomsday Clock time has either shifted closer to midnight or stayed the same.

In 2012, the Clock was moved to 5 minutes to midnight.

In 2015, it was moved to 3 minutes.

In 2017, it was moved to 2 ½ minutes.

In 2018, it was moved to 2 minutes.

In 2020, it was moved to 100 seconds.

In 2023, it was moved to 90 seconds.

Last year, it was moved to 89 seconds.

Today, it was moved to 85 seconds to midnight.

Leading experts who study existential risks believe humanity is the closest it has ever been to global catastrophe.

In the Doomsday Clock statement, the Bulletin’s Science and Security Board (SASB) releases side bars on each of the threats the Clock reflects—nuclear risk, climate change, disruptive technologies, and biological threats.

Across the board, excerpts from the SASB’s statement reflect a world that is failing to combat the most consequential threats humanity faces.

From the acceleration of a renewed nuclear arms race to the rise of nationalistic autocracies around the world, 2025 was an exceedingly dangerous year.

But what many don’t realize is that the Doomsday Clock can turn—and has turned—backwards. Eight times, to be exact.

Whether it does so again is up to humanity’s ability to learn from the past and to dedicate our time, effort, and resources to building a future where people can live free from the danger of existential threats.

In the Clock statement, the SASB notes that “national leaders–particularly those in the United States, Russia, and China–must take the lead in finding a path away from the brink” and that “citizens must insist they do so.”

Until that happens…

IT IS 85 SECONDS TO MIDNIGHT.

Those are all the time changes since I began writing this blog in 2011. On the one hand, yay, we've survived this long! On the other, the steady movement of the hands of the clock to midnight since 2012 is depressing and alarming. It's certainly not scaring the people in now power into behaving better.

That's a wrap for today's post. Stay tuned for another brief entry worth sharing next month, which begins Sunday.