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Podcasters Josh and Chuck recently discussed how humans are just "89 seconds" away from global catastrophe as per the metaphorical timer called the Doomsday Clock. The duo talked about the same in their April 16, 2025, podcast episode of Short Stuff.
“One of the things they [scientists] did in 1947 was create the Doomsday Clock. The reason we bring it up is because this year, January 28th, 2025, is when they moved the second hand on the clock forward to 89 seconds to midnight, which means it's the closest that clock has ever been to midnight since they started,” Chuck said.
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The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists uses the Doomsday Clock as a symbolic metaphor to illustrate how close humanity is to a global disaster. Every year, the hands are set according to scientists' assessments of the hazards presented by nuclear weapons, climate change, and other existential issues. The projected likelihood of a worldwide catastrophe increases as the clock approaches midnight.
All about the Doomsday Clock as Josh and Chuck discussed the same during their latest podcast episode
The Doomsday Clock is a design that warns the public about how close humans are to wiping themselves off the planet with man-made, deadly technologies. Artist Martyl Langsdorf was invited by the co-editor of Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Hyman Goldsmith, to create a cover for the Bulletin's June 1947 issue.
Langsdorf initially thought about utilizing the uranium sign. However, she sensed the urgency of the scientists who had worked on the Manhattan Project as she listened to them. To convey the idea that there was not much time left for humanity to control atomic bombs, she drew a clock.
When the Doomsday Clock was created in 1947, nuclear weapons posed the biggest threat to humanity, especially the possibility that the US and the USSR would engage in a nuclear arms race. At that time, seven minutes remained before midnight.
Since then, it has been moved eight times backward and 18 times ahead. In 1991, the time that was furthest from midnight was 17 minutes. Then, for the first time since its creation, the Bulletin took into account the potential catastrophic interruptions caused by something other than nuclear weapons, i.e., climate change, in 2007.
Since its creation, it has undergone 25 revisions to reflect shifts in the world. However, an actual doomsday is not predicted by the clock. Instead, it symbolizes the possibility of a worldwide disaster caused by humans, with midnight serving as a metaphor for such an occurrence.
The Bulletin's Governing Board member and designer Michael Bierut updated the Doomsday Clock in January 2007 to make it seem more contemporary. Every year, the Science and Security Board of the Bulletin determines the time after conferring with its Board of Sponsors, which includes Nobel laureates.
The most recent change was made in 2025, when it went from 90 seconds to midnight to 89 seconds. As per BBC’s January 28, 2025, report, Daniel Holz, chair of the Bulletin's Science and Security Board, described the recent action as "a warning to all world leaders.”
Furthermore, the BAS, a non-profit organization with headquarters in Chicago, released a statement regarding the same:
"In setting the clock one second closer to midnight, we send a stark signal. Because the world is already perilously close to the precipice, a move of even a single second should be taken as an indication of extreme danger and an unmistakable warning that every second of delay in reversing course increases the probability of global disaster," it read.
It further issued a warning that the ongoing conflict in Ukraine "could become nuclear at any moment because of a rash decision or through accident or miscalculation."
"Conflict in the Middle East threatens to spiral out of control into a wider war without warning," the statement concluded.
Meanwhile, one can catch all the episodes of the podcast on Spotify under their channel.
