WASHINGTON, January 27. /TASS/. The hands of the Doomsday Clock were moved four seconds closer to midnight, Alexandra Bell, CEO of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, said.
According to her, scientists have concluded that over the past year, "humanity has not made sufficient progress on the existential risks that endanger us all."
The hands of the Doomsday Clock now stand at 85 seconds to midnight, closer than ever before.
"Last year, we warned that the world was perilously close to catastrophe and that countries needed to change course towards international cooperation and action on the most critical and existential risks. Unfortunately, the opposite has happened," Daniel Holz, chair of the Bulletin’s science and security board, said.
"The last remaining treaty governing nuclear weapons stockpiles between the US and Russia will soon expire on February 4. For the first time in over half a century, there will be nothing preventing a runaway nuclear arms race," he pointed out.
The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) is set to expire on February 5, 2026. In September 2025, Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed extending the treaty for one year. The US has not officially responded to the proposal.
About Doomsday Clock
The Doomsday Clock is a hypothetical clock designed to show how close mankind is to destroying itself. The project’s goal is to keep the international community informed of that risk. The clock’s position indicates the level of global tensions stemming from nuclear threats, armed conflicts, climate change, cyber warfare, biological terrorism, etc.