UNITED NATIONS, January 27. /TASS/. UN member states must work towards nuclear disarmament and reduced tensions to move the hands of the Doomsday Clock away from nuclear midnight, the UN chief’s spokesman Stephane Dujarric said at a news briefing.

In his view, it is essential for "all member states, especially those nuclear powers, to move to return to a path of nuclear disarmament, of lowering tensions, so we can bring that Doomsday Clock back to at least 86" seconds to midnight.

Earlier on Tuesday, scientists participating in a video conference organized by The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved the hands of the symbolic Doomsday Clock four seconds closer to nuclear midnight.

The Doomsday Clock is a metaphorical measure of how close humanity is to extinction. It is intended to warn the global community about danger. The position of its hands reflects the level of global tension linked to nuclear threats, military conflicts, climate change, cyber warfare, bioterrorism, and other risks.

Over its more than 70-year history, the clock’s hands have been adjusted more than 20 times. The furthest they have ever been set was 17 minutes to midnight in 1991, amid optimism following the end of the Cold War.

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists was founded by researchers who took part in the Manhattan Project to develop nuclear weapons in the early 1940s. After witnessing the consequences of the US atomic bombings of Japan, they turned to pacifism. The journal has been published by the University of Chicago since 1945.