Doomsday Clock Moved Back 1 Minute

Here's a bit of good news. The Doomsday Clock has been moved back a minute and now stands at six minutes to midnight (midnight is the time that would signify nuclear destruction). The clock had been moved to five minutes to midnight in 2007 because of the pressure that global climate change would cause (as well as nuclear worries about Iran and North Korea).

The Doomsday Clock was first started by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (BAS) in 1947, when the clock was originally set at seven minutes to midnight. Since that time, the clock has been adjusted eighteen times (see picture above). It has been as close to midnight as two minutes (1953) and as far away as sixteen minutes (1991).

The BAS said it had moved the clock back a minute because of a "growing political will" to deal with the "terror of nuclear weapons" and "runaway climate change". But they warned that there was much still to be done.

Lawrence Krauss, co-chair of the BAS board of sponsors, said, "We urge leaders to fulfill the promise of a nuclear weapon-free world and to act now to slow the pace of climate change. We are mindful of the fact that the clock is ticking."

I hope the world leaders will pay attention, and hopefully someday we will be hours away from that midnight hour.