‘Apocalypse Clock’ puts the world 90 seconds to midnight – Science & Health

The “Apocalypse Hour” is closer than ever to midnight. This was announced, on Tuesday, by the atomic scientists who control the clock and set it at 90 seconds past midnight. The threat of nuclear war, disease and climate variability has been exacerbated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which began on February 24 last year, and put humanity at greater risk of extinction.

The “Apocalypse Clock” was created by Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a non-profit organization, to show how close humanity is to the end of the world. Its status is announced each year in January, and it is now 10 seconds closer to the end than it has been in the past three years. Midnight is a symbolic sign of humanity’s extinction. The worsening situation reflects the growing threat of nuclear war that emerged after the war in Ukraine. “Russia’s subtle threats about the potential use of nuclear weapons remind the world that escalating conflict by accident, intent, or miscalculation is a terrible risk. The chances of conflict spiraling out of everyone’s control remain high,” emphasized Rachel Bronson. Head of the newsletter at a press conference.

The impact of the war in Ukraine on account of the “end of the world clock” was such that it was announced in both Russian and Ukrainian languages ​​to draw both countries’ attention to the risks.

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists in its organization are experts in nuclear technology and climate science, with 13 Nobel Prize winners. The threats included in the countdown to the end of the world range from wars, weapons, politics, and pandemics to climate change.

However, last year, the war ended up having ramifications for climate change as well. Sivan Kartha, a scientist at the Stockholm Environmental Institute and a member of the Bulletin, pointed out that the increase in natural gas prices and the decline in exports from Russia prompted companies to look for other solutions, reactivating coal-fired power plants as an alternative. “Global carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels, after ebbing with COVID-19, peaked in 2021 and continued to rise in 2022, setting a new record. As emissions continue to rise, extreme weather events continue to occur and are inextricably linked It can be denied by climate change.”

The clock was created in 1947 by a group of atomic scientists, including Albert Einstein. At that time it started at seven minutes to midnight. In 1991, with the end of the Cold War, the time humanity was furthest from the periphery: 17 minutes.