Initially created to warn the public about the dangers of nuclear war, the clock now warns us how close we are to total global annihilation as the result of man-made actions.

Currently, the biggest threat facing the planet is climate change, although geopolitical tensions and weapons of mass destruction are still endangering the planet.

The clock is updated annually by the Chicago-based non-profit organization the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, and this year’s update might just be the most frightening yet…

On the Doomsday Clock, midnight represents the point of destruction, and, every year, it inches closer and closer to the end.

When the clock was established, it was set at seven minutes to midnight and it has moved backwards eight times and forward 17 times since then.

The furthest away we’ve been from Armageddon since the clock’s conception was in 1991, at the end of the Cold War when it was 17 minutes away.

Reuters explains that this is because the United States and Soviet Union signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty at this time, substantially reducing both countries’ nuclear weapons arsenals.

In 2023, the clock advanced 10 seconds – making it 90 seconds to midnight.

This marked the closest it has ever been to Armageddon.

The major reason the clock moved forward last year was due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which reignited global fears of a nuclear apocalypse.

Rachel Bronson, president of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, told Vice: “Russia’s thinly veiled threats to use nuclear weapons remind the world that escalation of the conflict by accident, intention, or miscalculation is a terrible risk.

“The possibilities that the conflict could spin out of anyone’s control remains high.”

The statement adds: “The war’s effects are not limited to an increase in nuclear danger; they also undermine global efforts to combat climate change.”

Earlier this year, there was an announcement as to the time left on the Doomsday clock.

But the clock remains the closest it has ever been to armageddon – at 90 seconds to midnight.

While it may sound good that it’s not moved any closer, it’s worth remembering that this is still the closest the clock has ever been to the end of the world.

Rachel Bronson explains: “Countries with nuclear weapons are engaged in modernisation programmes that threaten to create a new nuclear arms race.

“And recent advances in recent artificial intelligence raise a variety of questions about how to control a technology that could improve or threaten civilisation in countless ways.”

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ website states that the threats we’re currently facing, namely nuclear weapons, climate change and artificial intelligence, ‘singularly and as they interact, are of such a character and magnitude that no one nation or leader can bring them under control.’

The organization states that, to turn back the clock, ‘three of the world’s leading powers—the United States, China, and Russia—should commence serious dialogue about each of the global threats’ ‘despite their profound disagreements’ and ‘take responsibility for the existential danger the world now faces.’