150 seconds to the end: What's making the 'Doomsday Clock' tick?

Sidhartha Shukla Moneycontrol News

We are now 150 seconds closer to our doom, closest society has been to its end since 1950, says the metaphorical Doomsday Clock, maintained by the Bulletin of the Atomic Sciences.

Each year, the setting of the Doomsday Clock galvanizes a global debate about whether the planet is safer or more dangerous today than it was last year, and at key moments in recent history.

"In 1947 there was one technology with the potential to destroy the planet, and that was nuclear power. Today, rising temperatures, resulting from the industrial-scale burning of fossil fuels, will change life on earth as we know it, potentially destroying or displacing it from significant portions of the world, unless action is taken today, and in the immediate future," says Rachel Bronson, ED and Publisher at Bulletin of the Atomic Sciences.

In its latest release the publication said: "This year’s Clock deliberations felt more urgent than usual. On the big topics that concern the board, world leaders made too little progress in the face of continuing turbulence. In addition to the existential threats posed by nuclear weapons and climate change, new global realities emerged, as trusted sources of information came under attack, fake news was on the rise, and words were used in cavalier and often reckless ways."