Science & Technology

Doomsday Clock holds at 5 'til midnight

By T.K. Randall
January 16, 2013 ·  24 comments

Image Credit: military The clock represents humanity's proximity to destruction based on a number of political and environmental factors including the state of nuclear arsenals around the world, the recovery from the Fukushima disaster and the prevalence of extreme weather events. The clock was first implemented in 1947 in the wake of the first atomic weapons at which point it was set to seven minutes to midnight. In 1953 it was set to just two minutes to midnight following the first hydrogen bomb test, but recovered significantly at seventeen minutes to midnight at the end of the Cold War.

"We have as much hope for Obama's second term in office as we did in 2010, when we moved back the hand of the Clock after his first year in office," the science team wrote in an open letter to President Obama. "This is the year for U.S. leadership in slowing climate change and setting a path toward a world without nuclear weapons."[!gad]The clock represents humanity's proximity to destruction based on a number of political and environmental factors including the state of nuclear arsenals around the world, the recovery from the Fukushima disaster and the prevalence of extreme weather events. The clock was first implemented in 1947 in the wake of the first atomic weapons at which point it was set to seven minutes to midnight. In 1953 it was set to just two minutes to midnight following the first hydrogen bomb test, but recovered significantly at seventeen minutes to midnight at the end of the Cold War.

"We have as much hope for Obama's second term in office as we did in 2010, when we moved back the hand of the Clock after his first year in office," the science team wrote in an open letter to President Obama. "This is the year for U.S. leadership in slowing climate change and setting a path toward a world without nuclear weapons."

Source: Live Science | Comments (24)

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